Japan opposition: BOJ nominee vote not a must now

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TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) - A top leader of Japan's main opposition party said on Friday that the party might not seek a parliamentary vote soon on the government's nominee for a Bank of Japan board member, raising the spectre of a further nomination delay.

"It is not that we absolutely have to make a decision in the current parliamentary session," said Yukio Hatoyama, secretary-general of the Democratic Party.

The current session of parliament ends on June 15. The next session is unlikely to start until late August at the earliest.

The nominee, Kazuhito Ikeo, needs approval from both houses of parliament, including the opposition-controlled upper house, which has voted down four past BOJ nominees.

Ikeo's nomination almost failed last week when opposition lawmakers protested that his name had been leaked to the media before it went to parliament. [ID:nT290021]

The Democrats will back Ikeo but they do not want to upset their smaller ally, the People's New Party, which is against Ikeo's nomination, as they seek to bring down Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's government.

"It is hard to change what we have decided (on Ikeo). But we also have to think about how we weigh this when we think about our cooperation with the People's New Party," Hatoyama told a news conference.

Although the Democrats outnumber the ruling bloc in the upper house, they need the help of such smaller opposition parties to maintain a majority.

The Democrats are expected to submit an embarrassing censure motion next week against Fukuda, whose popularity has been plummeting. [ID:nT289221] (Reporting by Sumio Ito and Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Chris Gallagher)