Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday stepped down as president of the ruling party, paving the way for the selection of the disaster-hit nation's sixth new premier in five years.

Kan's resignation comes after a turbulent 14 months in power during which he was criticised for his response to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear plant accident, which saw his approval ratings plummet.

"I propose to you that I resign as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan today," Kan told party lawmakers Friday.

"Once a new leader is elected, I will resign promptly as prime minister and my cabinet will resign."

A leadership election for a new party president, who would then become prime minister, is expected on Monday. Parliament will then vote the leader in as premier on Tuesday.

A relaxed-looking Kan called on his colleagues to "rebuild" the DPJ and reflected on his time leading Japan during its worst post-war crisis. "I believe I did my best and did what I had to do in severe conditions," he said.

After surviving a no-confidence vote in June, Kan said he would quit on condition that three key bills were passed -- a second budget, a budget financing bill and legislation promoting the use of renewable energy.

The budget for reconstruction in quake-hit areas was approved in July, while the final two bills were passed Friday, clearing the way for him to depart.

At least five candidates are jockeying to succeed Kan, including the favourite, former foreign minister Seiji Maehara. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda officially threw his hat into the ring shortly after Kan's resignation.

The winner faces the unenviable task of overseeing Japan's biggest post-war reconstruction, resolving the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago, and shielding the economy from a soaring yen.

The new premier must also unite a divided parliament, decide on a new energy policy and win market confidence that Japan can overcome a legislative quagmire to address the world's biggest debt mountain.

Ratings agency Moody's this week downgraded Japan, citing its revolving-door political leadership as an obstacle to reform.

"The latest power change will yet again give the world the impression that Japan's leadership is unstable," said Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of politics at Meiji University in Tokyo.

Maehara, 49, who stepped down as foreign minister in March over a donations row, could become the nation's youngest post-war prime minister. He has advocated pursuing growth instead of raising taxes to ease Japan's fiscal woes.

Noda -- who recently courted controversy with statements supporting war criminals -- has softened his earlier stance on hiking taxes.

Between candidates such as Maehara and the premiership stands party kingmaker Ichiro Ozawa, who controls the DPJ's biggest political faction.

Ozawa, a divisive figure who faces criminal trial over a different donations scandal, leads up to 130 lawmakers out of the 398 who can vote on Kan's replacement.

He made waves Friday by saying he would not support Maehara, throwing the race into uncertainty.

During his tenure, 64-year-old Kan struggled amid low support ratings, a power struggle within the DPJ and a divided parliament in which the Liberal Democratic Party opposition blocked various bills.

The deadlock helped erode high early expectations of him as the first leader in years not born into a political dynasty, as the DPJ failed to meet its election pledges.

He was seen as mishandling the response to the March quake and tsunami that left 20,000 dead or missing and sparked the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident that forced tens of thousands to evacuate.

The atomic crisis triggered accusations of government negligence amid radiation leaks and food safety scares.

Kan later advocated a nuclear-free future for Japan in defiance of the power companies, bureaucrats and politicians who make up Japan's so-called "nuclear village", making more enemies along the way.

The message tapped into popular sentiment, with some polls saying 70 percent of Japanese want to phase out atomic power, but was not enough to revive his own tumbling ratings.

earlier related report
Possible successors to Japan PM Kan
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 26, 2011 - Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday announced he would resign as head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, paving the way for the nation to get its sixth new leader in five years.

Here is a list of some of his potential successors:

Seiji Maehara, 49:

The hawkish former foreign minister and self-confessed trainspotter is seen as the favourite to replace Kan, and in doing so would become Japan's youngest post-war prime minister.

He gained prominence last year during a bitter spat with regional and historical rival China and also Russia in separate island disputes.

Long seen as a politician of prime ministerial calibre, he is a self-made lawmaker in a political world long dominated by the offspring of former politicians. He led the party from 2005 to 2006.

A graduate of the elite Kyoto University, Maehara attended the private Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which uses tough workouts and meditation in its programme to forge modern political leaders.

Maehara quit the Kan cabinet in March after admitting to receiving around $3,000 in donations from an ethnic Korean restaurant owner, a family friend since his childhood, in contravention of Japanese law.

He has advocated spurring Japanese growth as more important than raising taxes.

Yoshihiko Noda, 54:

The current finance minister is known more as a safe pair of hands than a bold visionary, although he was recently noted for speaking out in support of Japan's war criminals.

As finance minister, Noda has overseen the slide of the world's number three economy into recession after the March 11 disasters triggered its worst post-war crisis, and has repeatedly waded into currency markets to weaken a strong yen.

He supports tax hikes to fix the fast-ageing nation's finances where public debt is at twice the size of the $5 trillion economy, the highest ratio in the industrialised world.

This month, on the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender he said that Japanese Class-A war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal were in fact not war criminals.

Banri Kaieda, 62:

Kaieda, a well-known economist before turning politician, was appointed as fiscal policy minister in September last year when Kan made a sweeping cabinet reshuffle three months after taking power.

He stayed on in the cabinet as economy, trade and industry minister in another reshuffle in January and has been at the forefront of efforts to contain the nuclear crisis at Fukushima since the March tsunami.

He came to be at odds with Kan, who made a policy shift away from nuclear power generation while Kaieda was trying to convince local governments to restart reactors that went offline after the disaster.

Kaieda openly wept in parliament in July when a lawmaker demanded he say when he will resign. Kaieda later said he shed tears due to overwhelming emotions over events since the disaster.

Michihiko Kano, 69:

Kano has been agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister since Kan reshuffled his cabinet in September last year.

The veteran politician held the same post more than two decades ago as a member of the then-ruling, conservative Liberal Democratic Party, from which he defected in 1994.

Kano has pushed for unity of the internal strife-prone party but is not among the public's favourites for next prime minister.

Sumio Mabuchi, 51:

Mabuchi, a former engineer working for a construction company, was infrastructure and transport minister when Japan was embroiled last year in a bitter territorial island row with China.

The father-of-six, whose hobbies include body-building, has been nicknamed "The Terminator" for his physique and "Lone Gorilla" in reference to the fact that he belongs to no intra-party faction.

He is against raising taxes but argues the government should review social security payouts.

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