A meeting of the Conference Committee of Both Houses was held Tuesday to discuss the nomination of the prime minister after the House of Representatives chose Liberal Democratic Party leader Yasuo Fukuda and the House of Councillors chose Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa as prime minister.
The committee met to designate a prime minister for the first time in nine years. The last occasion was when Keizo Obuchi (1937-2000) was elected in July 1998 after his predecessor, Ryutaro Hashimoto, (1937- 2006) resigned to take responsibility for the LDP's failure to retain a majority in the upper house election.
In the lower house's first ballot, Obuchi was chosen. But in the second ballot, held in the upper house, the then president of the Democratic Party of Japan, Naoto Kan, was selected.
Although Obuchi gained the most votes in the upper house's first ballot, he failed to win a majority. Other opposition parties cooperated with the DPJ for the second ballot and chose Kan.
Committee meetings held under the current Constitution to designate a prime minister also were held in February 1948 to select Hitoshi Ashida (1887-1959), and in August 1989 to select Toshiki Kaifu, when the nomination of the two houses differed.
(Sep. 26, 2007)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
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