ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993                   TAG: 9307220269
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Short

JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER WILL RESIGN

Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa announced Thursday he would quit as chief of the dominant Liberal Democrats, and thus as head of government, as the battle to succeed him began in earnest.

Miyazawa made his announcement during a special meeting of Liberal Democratic Party legislators.

He said he was resigning to take responsibility for the party's setback in Sunday's election, when it lost control of parliament's lower house for the first time since 1955.

Miyazawa will keep his posts as president of the Liberal Democratic Party and prime minister until successors are named. The party will first choose a new president, and that person will become the party's candidate for prime minister when parliament is convened next month to choose Miyazawa's successor. - Associated Press 


 by CNB