(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-08 11:08

TOKYO - The government's third nominee to head Japan's central bank was to testify before lawmakers Tuesday in hopes of ending a leadership vacuum at the top of the world's second-largest economy.

Confirmation hearings were scheduled in both houses of parliament for Masaaki Shirakawa, a former Bank of Japan executive director, who was nominated Monday. The political opposition rejected two previous candidates on grounds that they were too closely tied to the Finance Ministry.

The hearings appeared to move Japan closer to ending the political wrangling that kept his bank's top post vacant for nearly three weeks. Opposition leaders have indicated their support for him, though their stance over a deputy nomination remained uncertain.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's government, which is sagging at the polls amid an embarrassing power struggle in parliament, hopes to resolve the central bank dispute ahead of a Group of Seven financial chief's meeting later this week.

Shirakawa, recently confirmed as one of the bank's deputy governors, has been serving as the interim bank chief since Gov. Toshihiko Fukui retired on March 19. Hiroshi Watanabe, also to stand for public hearings Tuesday as a deputy governor, is a former vice finance minister for international affairs.

The nomination for BOJ governor needs approval from both the upper and lower house, with voting expected Wednesday. The opposition controls the upper house.

The timeline is in part driven by the G-7 gathering Friday in Washington. Another failure would mean a major embarrassment for the world's No. 2 economy amid global economic uncertainty.

The Nikkei business daily welcomed Shirakawa's expected endorsement, saying, "We can now avoid an absence of Bank of Japan governor at the G-7 meeting."

"It is regrettable that we have made a strong impression that the nation's financial policy chief was repeatedly pushed around due to parliamentary disputes," the Nikkei said.