Most lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party seem to agree on these points:

* The LDP will suffer a stunning setback in the Upper House election in July 2001, should Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori remain in power until then. The governing coalition of the LDP, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party could even lose its majority in the chamber.

* Mori should resign as prime minister to take blame for a scandal that may emerge before his term as LDP president expires in September 2001.