Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori officially announced Tuesday at the Liberal Democratic Party convention that he plans to move up the date of the LDP's presidential election -- a move widely taken to mean he is ready to step down soon.

Mori, however, continued to deny he is planning to resign.

Before some 8,500 LDP members in Tokyo, Mori admitted that the ruling party is facing "severe criticism" over its recent blunders, including a string of bribery scandals and Mori's own controversial actions in the aftermath of the Feb. 9 sinking of a Japanese fisheries training vessel off Hawaii.

"Now we have to start from scratch and make efforts to win the trust of the people," Mori said.

As one way to reform the party, Mori proposed that the next presidential election be held "in a way that allows various opinions to be reflected."

The leadership election was originally scheduled for September, when Mori's term as LDP chief expires, but there have been growing calls from within the LDP for the vote to come before the Upper House election in July.

Many foresee that if Mori remains in charge, the party will suffer huge losses in the July election.

Meanwhile, opposition parties on Tuesday jointly submitted a nonbinding censure motion against Mori to the House of Councilors, calling for his immediate resignation.

The motion is expected to be voted down today by the ruling coalition's majority.

The opposition camp called Mori "two-faced," saying that he signaled his resignation to his colleagues while publicly denying his intention to step down.

Now that Mori has effectively expressed his intention to resign, he should discontinue his duties as prime minister, they said.

Despite attending the LDP convention, Mori did not elaborate on how and when the party's election will be held. Party sources suggest it will take place next month, with a new Cabinet expected to be launched before the Golden Week holiday season beginning April 28.

The LDP leadership reportedly plans to only allow the party's Diet members and representatives of its local chapters to cast votes in the upcoming race, which will effectively choose the next prime minister.

Mori, widely seen as a lame duck, especially after he told LDP heavyweights of his plan to move up the election at a closed-door meeting Saturday, on Tuesday was still pledging to continue to fulfill his duties as prime minister and avoid creating a political vacuum.

"My duty to the public is to make the utmost efforts to have the fiscal 2001 state budget and its related bills approved by the Diet," he told the party's 67th convention.

Mori also was enthusiastic about his summit with U.S. President George W. Bush on March 19 and meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 25.

It is believed Mori's refusal to clarify his intentions is an attempt to avoid appearing weak when he meets Bush and Putin. The opposition camp is calling for his immediate resignation if he has in fact decided to step down.

The LDP's annual convention is usually held in January at a Tokyo hotel. But the party opted to hold this year's event in March at Nippon Budokan hall, which can accommodate more members than a hotel, in an effort to use the opportunity to rally the ranks for July's critical Upper House election.

Ironically, Masakuni Murakami, a former LDP leader in the Upper House who was arrested last month on bribery charges involving the KSD mutual aid foundation, was the one who pushed for this year's special convention.

peaking as a guest, Takenori Kanzaki, leader of New Komeito, one of the LDP's coalition partners, told the gathering that he will take seriously Mori's remarks, seeing them as an indication that the LDP will carry out radical internal reforms.

"I always make tough remarks (against the LDP). But that's because I want the LDP to hang on," Kanzaki said.

Leaders of New Komeito, including Kanzaki, have become increasingly worried that their party may sink with the LDP if Mori continues to rule the alliance; they have been urging the unpopular prime minister to step down.

Earlier in the day, Chikara Sakaguchi, health, labor and welfare minister and New Komeito member, said he took Mori's plan to bring forward the party election as a signal of his intention to step down.

Speaking after the day's Cabinet meeting, Sakaguchi said, "Just like there is an end to one's life, it is natural that there is an end to a Cabinet."

On the timing of Mori's resignation, Sakaguchi said, "While it is not easy to ascertain when he will quit, he should decide by weighing all the factors concerned. But I got the impression that it is coming fairly rapidly."

Justice Minister Masahiko Komura, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed Mori as LDP chief, on Tuesday ruled out his intention to run in the upcoming party race.

"There is no possibility," Komura told reporters.

Former LDP Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka and Junichiro Koizumi, former health minister who currently serves as chairman of Mori's faction, are considered the most likely candidates, although both of them also continue to deny their intention to take over from Mori.

Rank-and-file outcry

Some 40 Liberal Democratic Party assemblymen from Tokyo severely criticized the party's senior executives Tuesday and demanded that all party members nationwide be eligible to vote in the presidential election.

Rallying in front of Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, where the LDP convention took place, the group said the party's top executives lack a sense of urgency toward the Tokyo assembly election in June and the Upper House election in July, both of which are seen as crucial for determining the party's fate.

They demanded that all of the party's rank-and-file members be allowed to vote in the election.

The party's top executives, however, are expected to grant voting rights only to lawmakers in the Diet and to one representative from each of the 47 prefectural chapters.