Asia-Pacific

Japanese farm minister commits suicide

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-05-28 14:00

TOKYO - A scandal-tainted minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet has committed suicide, media reported on Monday, compounding problems for the Japanese leader whose support had already dived ahead of a July election.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talks to the media at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo May 28, 2007. A scandal-tainted minister in Abe's cabinet has committed suicide, media reported on Monday, compounding problems for the Japanese leader whose support had already dived ahead of a July election. [Reuters]

The suicide by Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka came two months before an election for parliament's upper house, the first big test at the polls for Abe's ruling coalition.

"This will have serious political fallout, but at this point it's hard to tell how much," a government official told Reuters.

Matsuoka - under fire for a series of political funding scandals - was found unconscious in his room at a residential complex for lawmakers in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters.

Media said Matsuoka had hanged himself in his room. Police later confirmed had died in hospital.

Local media had linked Matsuoka to at least two political fund scandals including one involving massive, dubious spending on his office near parliament.

Last week media also reported that he had received political donations from businessmen involved in a bid-rigging scandal.

Matsuoka had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The suicide came as Abe's public support rate slumped to its lowest level since he took office last September, increasing chances his ruling camp could lose its majority in the July upper house election.

Only 32 percent of the voters who responded to a weekend survey by the Mainichi newspaper backed Abe, down 11 points from April, while a separate poll by the Nikkei business daily put the prime minister's support rate at 41 percent, down 12 points.

The Mainichi survey showed that 42 percent of the voters want the main opposition Democratic Party to win the July election, compared with 33 percent who want Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party to win.