Japan’s opposition-controlled upper house of parliament approved the acting chief of the Bank of Japan as its governor Wednesday, but lawmakers rejected the nomination of a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat as deputy governor.

The stalemate over who will head the Bank of Japan has continued in recent weeks as the opposition seeks to turn the decision into a political issue. The five-year term of former Bank of Japan chief Toshihiko Fukui expired March 19.

The opposition, led by the Democrats, has argued repeatedly that former bureaucrats at the powerful Finance Ministry are too politically connected and endanger the independence of the central bank of the world’s second largest economy. They already voted down two previous candidates for that reason.

But in the latest balloting, the upper house approved interim governor Masaaki Shirakawa to permanently take that seat by a vote of 231-7. The lawmakers, however, voted down the nomination of Hiroshi Watanabe as one of two deputy governors 121-115.

The nomination for the posts need approval from both houses of parliament. The ruling coalition controls the lower house and so the candidates, appointed by the prime minister, will have no problems clearing that house. A vote is set there for later in the day.