JAPAN’S RULING Democratic Party (DPJ) will today chose a new leader who will almost certainly become the country’s 61st prime minister – and its fifth in four years.
Deputy prime minister and finance minister Naoto Kan (63), a former social activist who made his political reputation fighting health ministry bureaucrats, is the frontrunner. He announced his candidacy yesterday.
He will compete against little-known deputy Shinji Tarutoko, from the conservative wing of the party, who is backed by DPJ kingpin and general secretary Ichiro Ozawa.
The Democrats are still reeling from the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama and the loss of coalition partners the Social Democrats (SDP), who left in protest at the government’s flip-flop on the relocation of a US military heliport.
Most of the DPJ executive, including Mr Ozawa, will resign today in an attempt to reboot the party before an upper house election scheduled for July. The leadership is hoping that a facelift will help reverse the fading fortunes of the government, which has been in power for just eight months.
“The new leader must be able to restore the reputation of the DPJ,” said Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada yesterday.
Money scandals involving Mr Hatoyama and Mr Ozawa and a string of broken pledges have seen the party plummet in the polls.
Opposition politicians say the reboot is a ploy to shield the party from the verdict of the country’s voters, and are demanding an immediate election.
“The Democrat-led government has betrayed people’s expectations and reneged on its campaign promises,” said LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki yesterday. “They should face the electorate.”
Mr Hatoyama, who was elected last September after pledging to transform the country’s sclerotic politics, has come under withering fire for his decision on Wednesday to step down. “His resignation is a major betrayal of the people,” analyst Atsuo Ito told the Asahi newspaper yesterday. “The DPJ’s responsibility is grave for causing such despair.”
His successor must immediately grapple with the issue that helped topple Mr Hatoyama: the relocation of the US Futenma base on the island prefecture of Okinawa.
The new leader is also likely to be quickly caught up in the diplomatic war over North Korea’s alleged attack on a South Korean frigate. Seoul plans to bring the issue to the UN Security Council next week.
Mr Kan, who was DPJ president when the party was in opposition, yesterday said he was ready to take over and carry on the work of the Hatoyama government. “We didn’t have enough time to fulfil the expectations of the people.”
He will have to do so without the support of the pacifist SDP, which has ruled out rejoining the government unless it reverses it position on the base issue.
The People’s New Party, the government’s other coalition ally, is also increasingly unhappy.
DPJ lawmakers will meet today to elect their new president, who will go before parliament for what is essentially a rubber-stamp vote.
The Democrats’ dominance of the lower house means their leader automatically becomes prime minister.