Kan, Ozawa running neck and neck in DPJ race among lawmakers

+

TOKYO, Sept. 3 Kyodo -
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan's leadership election is developing into
an unexpectedly tight race, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan gaining 160 votes
among the party's 412 Diet members, slightly less than his sole challenger
Ichiro Ozawa's 170, a Kyodo News survey showed Friday.
The situation remains uncertain, however, as those who responded that they had
not yet decided or who refused to respond totaled roughly 80, around 20 percent
of the party's members in the House of Representatives and the House of
Councillors.
The result indicates that Ozawa, 68, the party's sandal-tainted former
secretary general who was expected to chalk up more lawmaker votes than Kan
because of his clout within the party, has so far failed to gain the full
support of either the around 150 members in his intraparty group or the 60
members of the group headed by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a close
ally of Ozawa.
Both camps are expected to intensify their battle for votes among freshman
lawmakers -- who account for half of the swing votes -- and local assembly
members, as well as supporters, who total about 340,000 across Japan.
Kyodo News calculated the figures based on direct interviews with lawmakers and
decisions already announced by some intraparty groups.
Kan, the 63-year-old incumbent DPJ president, had secured the support of around
120 Diet members, comprising 50 from his own intraparty group, 40 from a group
headed by Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Seiji Maehara
and 30 from a group led by Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
The premier, who has been in office for only three months since replacing
Hatoyama, has successfully racked up an additional 40 votes as a result of his
efforts to woo votes through meetings with freshman Diet members including the
so-called ''Ozawa Children,'' who were elected in recent national elections
with Ozawa's backing.
Attention is focused on the faction consisting of lawmakers from the
now-defunct Democratic Socialist Party, which has not yet decided.
In the Sept. 14 presidential election, Kan and Ozawa will compete for a total
of 1,224 points. The votes of Diet members will account for around 70 percent,
or 824 points, as each parliamentarian's vote counts as 2 points.
Undecided lawmakers responded that they would make up their minds after
determining whether Kan or Ozawa could smoothly control the divided Diet or
after listening to their upcoming stump speeches.
On Wednesday, when official campaigning kicked off, about 110 lawmakers
gathered at a meeting of the Kan camp, while around 120 rallied for Ozawa.
The winner will almost automatically become Japan's next prime minister as the
DPJ holds a majority in the more powerful lower house.
==Kyodo
2010-09-03 23:35:18