06.03.09, 04:55 AM EDTTOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - Polls show Japan's opposition Democratic Party would win a general election that is due by October, but there is no clear indication of who would be its finance minister in government.
The party is leading the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Taro Aso by more than 10 percentage points in voter polls.
In government, it would have to tackle Japan's recession, putting a sharper focus than normal on the finance minister's role.
Following are some Democratic Party names seen by political analysts as possible candidates for finance minister and other leading minds behind its economic policy:
MASAHARU NAKAGAWA, 58:
Nakagawa is the party's current finance spokesman but sources at the party say the current 'shadow cabinet' is largely symbolic and title holders, including Nakagawa, may not be in the cabinet in a Democrat-led government.
Nakagawa has said Japan should avoid buying U.S. government bonds denominated in dollars because of currency risk, and a Democratic Party government would continue to buy U.S. government bonds only if they were denominated in yen.
EISUKE SAKAKIBARA, 68:
Known as 'Mr Yen' for spearheading intervention in currency markets as a top finance ministry official in the 1990s, Sakakibara has recently called for a change in government.
He says drastic reforms would require breaking away with vested interests which he says have come to thrive after five decades of almost unbroken rule by the ruling LDP.
The Democrats tapped him as their candidate for finance minister in the 2003 election, when he was a professor at Keio University. Some media reports said Sakakibara was involved in drafting policy proposals for former party leader Ichiro Ozawa last year.
KATSUYA OKADA, 55:
Some party officials say the post of finance minister may go to a veteran lawmaker Katsuya Okada, a policy expert with a 'Mr Clean' image and the secretary general of the party.
Okada, a former trade ministry official, has said he wants the party to discuss how to tackle fiscal reform, including an increase in consumption tax, unlike Hatoyama, who has said the party should abandon such debate for now.
NAOTO KAN, 62:
Naoto Kan is another party veteran who, together with Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, founded the party a decade ago.
Kan has said the Democrats would aim not only to strengthen the social safety net for those out of work but create jobs in sectors such as agriculture and 'green' technology as part of an 'Environmental New Deal'.
NAOKI MINEZAKI, 64:
The finance minister is normally chosen from parliament's more powerful lower house, but some upper house lawmakers have been leading policy discussions within the party, such as policy chief Naoki Minezaki, the head of the upper house financial committee.
A former shadow finance minister, Minezaki once expressed doubt that the party could finance plans to abolish expressway tolls, provide child-rearing allowances and give aid to farmers by cutting wasteful government spending, without a tax hike.
MASAYUKI NAOSHIMA, 63:
Another possible from the upper house is Masayuki Naoshima, a former motor industry union official. He has said child allowances and removal of highway tolls could be funded by tapping government reserves and cutting waste, an idea dismissed by critics who say reserves would quickly dry up.
But Naoshima said the reserves would be a stop-gap providing time for an overhaul of the budget to strip out redundant layers of bureaucracy and perks for former officials.
(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Rodney Joyce and Neil Fullick)
((hideyuki.sano@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 6441 1827; Reuters Messaging: hideyuki.sano.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: JAPAN ECONOMY/OPPOSITION
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