Mr. Yoshiro Mori, former secretary general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, on Wednesday succeeded Mr. Keizo Obuchi, the former prime minister, who has been incapacitated by a stroke since Sunday. The new prime minister has retained all members of the second coalition-Cabinet, which Mr. Obuchi launched early last October.

This indicates that the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Mori is not expected to remain in power over a long period. The Mori Cabinet appears to be stepping in as a stopgap government to steer the nation until a heavyweight administration can assume power following general elections for the House of Representatives. A sense of crisis in the LDP following Mr. Obuchi's collapse led party leaders to bury differences and cooperate to avoid creating a political vacuum. They should be commended for moving swiftly to ensure a smooth changing of the guard, helping to compensate for the nation's lack of an institutionalized crisis-management structure.

Essentially a conservative, Mr. Mori, 62, leads the third-largest faction of conservative politicians, and has filled a number of important Cabinet posts, serving as construction minister, education minister and minister of international trade and industry. He is believed to be one of the most appropriate leaders in the party, one whom party members can agree on to serve as a coordinator, if not as a commander. Such an assessment of the new prime minister contributes to the prevailing view that his Cabinet will end up playing a caretaker role. It is premature, however, to characterize his administration as such. Election results will determine whether he will go down in the nation's political annals as the head of a stopgap government or whether he will be able to govern for a longer period. The Lower House elections, which will be held sometime before Oct. 19, will be the most important determinant of his administration's fate.