日本首相菅直人宣布辞职

今年事兒真多...

-by Eve

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來源：《金融时报》2011年08月26日

日本首相菅直人(Naoto Kan)宣布辞去执政党民主党(DPJ)党魁职务，为下周选举产生新的政府首脑扫清道路。

日本民主党计划在下周一举行党魁竞选，日本六年来的第六位首相预计将在第二天由议会选出。

近3个月前，菅直人首度表示他将辞职，为更加年轻的领导人让路。

这一承诺使这位不受欢迎的首相度过了6月的一次不信任投票，让他的首相任期延长了近3个月。

日本民主党党魁竞选将针对多个问题展开辩论，包括如何为日本遭地震毁坏的东北沿海重建筹资、福岛事故之后是否重新启动核电站以及长期能源政策。

但获胜者也将面临严峻的经济形势。今年第二季度，日本经济连续第3个季度出现收缩，在4月至6月的3个月里，按年率计，日本GDP下降了1.3%。经济学家担心，灾后重建的提振作用将会受到海外需求疲软的影响，全球经济下滑是海外需求疲软的原因之一，另一个原因是日元升值——8月初日元兑美元汇率创下二战后新高。

多达7名民主党(DPJ)议员已经表示有计划参与角逐，或正在考虑参选，因此通过两轮投票才能产生赢家的可能性很高。

候选人包括前外务大臣前原诚司(Seiji Maehara)、财务大臣野田佳彦(Yoshihiko Noda)、经济产业大臣海江田万里(Banri Kaieda)和农林水产大臣鹿野道彦(Michihiko Kano)。

在菅直人2010年6月就任首相后不久，日本民主党便在上议院选举中遭遇惨败，导致议会分裂，从而对政府推动立法构成了阻碍。

鉴于新任首相很可能也会面临菅直人任内遭遇的议会僵局，一些首相候选人呼吁与在野党自民党(LDP)建立“大联合政府”(Grand Coalition)。

译者/何黎
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Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, announced his resignation as leader of the ruling Democratic Party, paving the way for the election of a new head of state next week.

The DPJ is scheduled to hold a leadership contest on Monday and Japan’s sixth prime minister in six years is expected to be chosen by the Diet the following day.

Mr Kan’s resignation comes almost three months after he first indicated he would step down to make room for a younger leader.

That pledge enabled the unpopular prime minister to survive a vote of no-confidence in June, and extend his premiership for nearly three months.

The DPJ leadership race will be fought over a broad range of issues, including how to finance the reconstruction of Japan’s earthquake-devastated northeastern coast, whether to re-start nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima accident and longer-term energy policy.

But the victor will also be faced by an economy that contracted for a third consecutive quarter in the three months to June with gross domestic product falling 1.3 per cent on an annualised basis. Economists are concerned that a pick-up from reconstruction activity could be dented by weak overseas demand partly due to a global slowdown but also due to the strength of the yen which earlier in August reached a new post-war high against the US dollar.

As many as seven DPJ MPs have said they plan to or are considering running in the race, making it highly likely that a winner will emerge only after two rounds of voting.

The candidates include Seiji Maehara, former foreign minister, Yoshihiko Noda, finance minister, Banri Kaieda, economy and trade minister and Michihiko Kano, agriculture minister.

The DPJ suffered a humiliating defeat in Upper House elections soon after Mr Kan took over as prime minister in June 2010, resulting in a divided parliament that stymied efforts by the administration to pass legislation.

Given that the new prime minister is likely to face the same parliamentary impasse that plagued Mr Kan’s premiership, some candidates have called for a “Grand Coalition” with the opposition Liberal Democrats.