Abe under fire over suicide and pension mess

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Fallout from a scandal-tainted minister's suicide and mismanaged pensions swirled on Tuesday, threatening the chances that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling camp can win a July upper house election.

Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka's suicide on Monday, hours before he was to face questioning in parliament, coincided with a slump in Abe's approval ratings ahead of a July upper house election, his first big electoral test.

On Tuesday, a former executive of a public corporation at the centre of a bid-rigging scandal to which Matsuoka had been linked was found dead in an apparent suicide, Kyodo news agency said.

"I am worried that (recent developments) will have considerable impact on the upper house election," Environment Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi, who will fill in as farm minister told reporters after the regular cabinet meeting.

"It will be tough for the Liberal Democratic Party."

Matsuoka, 62, had come under fire for a series of political funding scandals and questions about his suitability for the farm post were raised as soon as he was appointed in September.

Domestic media said Abe bore responsibility for appointing the scandal-tainted Matsuoka and keeping him in the job.

"This is a major blow ahead of the upper house election," said the conservative Sankei newspaper of the suicide.