Updated Sunday, May 17, 2009 9:19 am TWN, By Shingo Ito, AFP
TOKYO -- Japan's scandal-shaken main opposition party Saturday chose political blue-blood Yukio Hatoyama as its leader ahead of a key election battle against Prime Minister Taro Aso this year.
Hatoyama beat his rival Katsuya Okada by 124 votes to 95 to become president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
“I hereby promise to take the lead in achieving a power change,” he said after his election by party lawmakers, vowing to “create a politics in which citizens can take center stage.”
Hatoyama, 62, is a fourth-generation politician from one of Japan's most influential political dynasties. One of his grandfathers was a prime minister and another founded tyre maker Bridgestone.
Serving until now as the party's secretary-general, Hatoyama replaces Ichiro Ozawa, who resigned as party president Monday over a political donations scandal in which one of his top aides has been indicted.
Hatoyama, who was Ozawa's loyal right-hand man for three years, has said Ozawa will continue to play a key role in the party, but has denied he will serve as a “puppet” of the political heavyweight.
“With the victory of Hatoyama, the influence of Ozawa is likely to remain in the party to some extent,” said Tetsuro Kato, professor of politics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
“A key task for Hatoyama will be to rid the party of the image of Ozawa in time for the general election,” which must be called by September, he said.
Despite the donation scandal — in which a construction company allegedly gave illegal donations as it sought public works contracts in Ozawa's electoral district — the DPJ still enjoys strong support among many voters.
The DPJ hopes this year's general election will be their chance to end more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) headed by Aso, who is also the grandson of a former premier.
Hatoyama has called on his party to revamp Japan's bureaucracy-led politics and to provide better support for people hit hard by the nation's worst recession since World War II amid the global economic downturn.
He has called for a reform of the pension system and help for struggling families, which he says can be financed by cutting wasteful government spending.
“Hatoyama won today, but it won't be easy for him to achieve a power change,” said Kato, of Hitotsubashi University, pointing out that Hatoyama has been vague so far on many policy points.”“It is still unknown how Hatoyama wants to revamp the Japanese economy. He has yet to unveil his own manifesto. Whether or not he can win the general election is still not clear.”
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