The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's two non-Cabinet allies threatened Sept. 17 to end the tripartite alliance unless Koko Sato resigns as head of the Management and Coordination Agency.
The Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake officially demanded the resignation of Sato, who was given the ministerial post Sept. 11 in the reshuffled Cabinet of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, despite his bribery conviction in connection with the Lockheed scandal of the 1970s.
The two parties said that the public is questioning the principles of Hashimoto's reform-advocating government because of the appointment, which runs counter to political reform, a prerequisite for administrative reform.