Kan to remain Japan's premier after winning DPJ leadership election

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TOKYO, Sept. 14 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan will extend his three months in office after pulling
off a solid victory Tuesday in the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential
election over Ichiro Ozawa, one of the most powerful figures in the ruling
party.
But Kan is likely to face a bumpy road as a fierce two-week campaign battle
with Ozawa has left divisions among DPJ lawmakers, whose votes in the election
were almost equally divided.
Attention is now focused on Kan's new Cabinet lineup and whether the
63-year-old prime minister will offer Ozawa and his allies any key posts in the
government or the party, which swept to power a year ago.
''At this moment, everything is left vacant,'' Kan said at a news conference,
when asked about his envisaged Cabinet and party leadership lineup.
Kan said he will collect opinions from former DPJ presidents and other
heavyweights, starting Wednesday, in considering personnel affairs.
He is expected to reshuffle his Cabinet on Friday before he leaves for New York
next week to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting, DPJ senior lawmakers said.
According to government sources, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku,
widely regarded as critical of Ozawa's political style, will retain the post
and serve as the premier's right-hand man.
There is a high possibility that the reshuffle will not be extensive and that
only a few portfolios, such as justice minister, will be subject to change,
according to the lawmakers. Incumbent Justice Minister Keiko Chiba lost her
parliamentary seat in the July upper house election.
Some of the lawmakers said the party's new leadership lineup may be ready on
Wednesday. The sources said Kan is planning to replace Secretary General Yukio
Edano, who is also known to be against Ozawa's way of conducting politics, with
someone else.
Kan and Ozawa, who heads the largest intraparty group, contested for a majority
of 1,222 points under the party's electoral system, which allows rank-and-file
supporters to vote once every two years.
Kan secured 721 points to 491 points for Ozawa, a margin of victory that was
greater than expected. The prime minister was strongly favored by general party
supporters who apparently dislike Ozawa's high-handed political practices and
his scandal-ridden image.
Kan won 249 points from rank-and-file DPJ party members and supporters,
compared with Ozawa's 51, an outcome almost in line with the trend in many
opinion polls ahead of the election, suggesting they were also weary of seeing
a rapid succession of Japanese premiers.
If Kan had lost the election to Ozawa, who held the party's No. 2 post of
secretary general until June, Japan would have seen its sixth prime minister in
four years and the third since the DPJ's rise to power one year ago at a time
of growing concern about its flagging economy.
But Kan and Ozawa ran neck and neck among DPJ Diet members, who accounted for
nearly 70 percent of the total points. Among them, Kan secured 412 points to
Ozawa's 400, meaning that only six more DPJ lawmakers were in favor of the
premier's reelection.
Kan may find it difficult to patch up the rifts within the DPJ, even though the
two contenders agreed prior to the election that they would maintain party
unity regardless of the outcome.
Still, Kan told an extraordinary party convention at a Tokyo hotel shortly
after his victory that he remains committed to preparing an environment in
which everyone in the DPJ can demonstrate their ability in an attempt to
overcome a host of challenges facing Japan.
Ozawa said in a meeting with his supporters after the election, ''Together with
you all, as one rank and filer, I will do all I can to make the DPJ-led
government successful.''
During the campaign, both candidates stressed the importance of reviving the
sluggish economy by boosting domestic demand, but there were some differences
in their approaches.
Ozawa, 68, had urged the DPJ to stick to the promises the party made for the
August 2009 lower house election, which it won by a landslide to end an almost
unbroken half-century of rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Ozawa, often dubbed ''the shadow shogun'' of Japanese politics, had said the
DPJ must redouble its efforts to wrest control from the country's powerful
bureaucracy in managing taxpayers' money and formulating policies.
He had said funds necessary to implement the pledges, ranging from monthly
child allowances to toll-free expressways, could be squeezed out if he
exercised strong political leadership and more wasteful public spending was
cut.
The prime minister had taken a somewhat more cautious attitude toward the
generous pledges, pointing to the need to review them in the event of fiscal
shortfalls.
Kan, who was finance minister before assuming office on June 8, had expressed
the need to have a debate on tax and regulatory reforms, while saying that job
creation in new business areas, not overly reliant on spending, holds the key
to revitalizing Japan.
In addition, Kan -- the first leader in many years not born into a blue-blooded
political family -- had said one of his major goals is to make Japanese
politics more open and clean where money does not talk.
Kan's image as a grassroots activist-turned-politician is in contrast with that
of Ozawa, known as an old-school backroom fixer, who is still dogged by a
political funding scandal.
Ozawa became DPJ president in April 2006 but stepped down from the top party
post in May 2009, prior to the House of Representatives election, after his
state-funded aide was arrested and indicted over dubious political
contributions from a construction company.
He later held the DPJ's No. 2 post but resigned in early June this year,
together with Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, due to fears over lackluster
public support for the party ahead of the House of Councillors election, in
which the ruling coalition suffered a stinging defeat.
Ozawa has denied any wrongdoing over the scandal involving his political fund
management body.
But he could be indicted in the near future if a judicial panel formed by
randomly picked citizens, which is currently reviewing an earlier decision by
prosecutors not to charge him over the case, concludes it is appropriate for
prosecution.
==Kyodo
2010-09-14 23:39:41