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204474
Wed, 08/31/2011 - 00:03
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https://oananews.org//node/204474
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Noda named as Japan's new prime minister, fills key DPJ posts
TOKYO, Aug. 30 Kyodo -
Yoshihiko Noda was named Tuesday as Japan's next prime minister, the sixth in five years, and he immediately set to work selecting key ruling party executives who he believes are best equipped to achieve his goals of reconstructing quake-ravaged areas and restoring the nation's precarious fiscal health.
Finance Minister Noda, 54, who won the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election Monday, is now stepping up efforts to fashion his Cabinet later this week, after installing lawmakers who are critical of exiting Prime Minister Naoto Kan to senior party jobs.
In an effort to head off a battle within the DPJ, Noda picked Azuma Koshiishi, leader of the caucus of its legislators in the opposition-controlled House of Councillors, for the party's secretary general.
''I believe he has power to bring together all lawmakers, not only in the upper house,'' Noda said, alluding to persisting concern over legislative gridlock.
The 75-year-old heavyweight, a loyalist of kingpin Ichiro Ozawa who did not back Noda in the election, told reporters that he had accepted the offer after deep consideration, and would strive to unite the DPJ.
''I'll make every effort to restore harmony within the party,'' Koshiishi said.
Noda tapped former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who also ran in the presidential election, as the DPJ's policy chief. But that means Maehara will not be a Cabinet member, unlike the man he will replace, Koichiro Gemba, who in the Kan government was national strategy minister as well as DPJ policy chief.
''By respecting thoughts of many people, I'll draw up policies to move Japan forward,'' Maehara, who is opposed to Ozawa's way of deciding important policies behind the scenes, told reporters.
Noda, who will be the third-youngest prime minister in Japan's postwar period, is considering appointing lawmakers who are distant from Ozawa, such as former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku or current DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, as his successor in the post of finance minister, sources close to the matter said.
Noda is attempting to launch his Cabinet by Friday, DPJ sources said. But there is still a possibility it will be formed next Monday.
The new DPJ leader selected Hirofumi Hirano, former chief Cabinet secretary, as the party's Diet affairs chief. Hirano is an ally of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a vocal critic along with Ozawa of Kan's leadership.
After his triumph, Noda pledged to deepen ties between members of the DPJ, which has long been beset by internal divisions mainly between supporters and opponents of Ozawa, a political rival to Kan, a proponent of tax increases like Noda.
Noda is a supporter of tax hikes to combat Japan's ballooning debt, currently twice the size of the country's gross domestic product, and to finance the huge additional costs of the largest reconstruction work since the years after World War II.
Yet in pursuing his economic and fiscal policy goals, the incoming prime minister could find it difficult to deal with the current divided Diet, where opposition parties dominate the upper house, if he is unable to strengthen ruling party unity.
Noda was elected prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, exactly two years after his party scored a historic win in the lower house election, allowing it to take the reins of government away from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled Japan almost without interruption for over a half century.
Noda has taken the helm as the disaster-hit nation faces a myriad of challenges, including how to contain the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Kan and his Cabinet resigned Tuesday morning to pave the way for Noda to be elected as the next prime minister.
Amid growing criticism of his leadership following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as well as his handling of the nuclear crisis, Kan announced his resignation late last week.
''I'm very sorry that my Cabinet could not respond sufficiently'' to several issues including reconstruction work following the natural disasters, Kan said in a statement released Tuesday.
He also called on the next government to pursue policies such as social security and tax reform through discussions between the ruling and opposition parties.
Noda has started making arrangements to convene an extraordinary session of the Diet on Sept. 12 to deliver his policy speech and for interpellations by party representatives, government sources said. The current Diet session ends Wednesday.
However, the two opposition parties -- the LDP and the New Komeito party -- agreed Tuesday to seek the convening of the parliamentary session on Sept. 9.
As top priorities, Noda has indicated he will work to compile and pass the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011, aimed at full-fledged reconstruction from the disasters, while trying to build good relations with Japan's two major opposition parties for the time being.
Yoshihiko Noda was named Tuesday as Japan's next prime minister, the sixth in five years, and he immediately set to work selecting key ruling party executives who he believes are best equipped to achieve his goals of reconstructing quake-ravaged areas and restoring the nation's precarious fiscal health.
Finance Minister Noda, 54, who won the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election Monday, is now stepping up efforts to fashion his Cabinet later this week, after installing lawmakers who are critical of exiting Prime Minister Naoto Kan to senior party jobs.
In an effort to head off a battle within the DPJ, Noda picked Azuma Koshiishi, leader of the caucus of its legislators in the opposition-controlled House of Councillors, for the party's secretary general.
''I believe he has power to bring together all lawmakers, not only in the upper house,'' Noda said, alluding to persisting concern over legislative gridlock.
The 75-year-old heavyweight, a loyalist of kingpin Ichiro Ozawa who did not back Noda in the election, told reporters that he had accepted the offer after deep consideration, and would strive to unite the DPJ.
''I'll make every effort to restore harmony within the party,'' Koshiishi said.
Noda tapped former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who also ran in the presidential election, as the DPJ's policy chief. But that means Maehara will not be a Cabinet member, unlike the man he will replace, Koichiro Gemba, who in the Kan government was national strategy minister as well as DPJ policy chief.
''By respecting thoughts of many people, I'll draw up policies to move Japan forward,'' Maehara, who is opposed to Ozawa's way of deciding important policies behind the scenes, told reporters.
Noda, who will be the third-youngest prime minister in Japan's postwar period, is considering appointing lawmakers who are distant from Ozawa, such as former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku or current DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, as his successor in the post of finance minister, sources close to the matter said.
Noda is attempting to launch his Cabinet by Friday, DPJ sources said. But there is still a possibility it will be formed next Monday.
The new DPJ leader selected Hirofumi Hirano, former chief Cabinet secretary, as the party's Diet affairs chief. Hirano is an ally of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a vocal critic along with Ozawa of Kan's leadership.
After his triumph, Noda pledged to deepen ties between members of the DPJ, which has long been beset by internal divisions mainly between supporters and opponents of Ozawa, a political rival to Kan, a proponent of tax increases like Noda.
Noda is a supporter of tax hikes to combat Japan's ballooning debt, currently twice the size of the country's gross domestic product, and to finance the huge additional costs of the largest reconstruction work since the years after World War II.
Yet in pursuing his economic and fiscal policy goals, the incoming prime minister could find it difficult to deal with the current divided Diet, where opposition parties dominate the upper house, if he is unable to strengthen ruling party unity.
Noda was elected prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, exactly two years after his party scored a historic win in the lower house election, allowing it to take the reins of government away from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled Japan almost without interruption for over a half century.
Noda has taken the helm as the disaster-hit nation faces a myriad of challenges, including how to contain the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Kan and his Cabinet resigned Tuesday morning to pave the way for Noda to be elected as the next prime minister.
Amid growing criticism of his leadership following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as well as his handling of the nuclear crisis, Kan announced his resignation late last week.
''I'm very sorry that my Cabinet could not respond sufficiently'' to several issues including reconstruction work following the natural disasters, Kan said in a statement released Tuesday.
He also called on the next government to pursue policies such as social security and tax reform through discussions between the ruling and opposition parties.
Noda has started making arrangements to convene an extraordinary session of the Diet on Sept. 12 to deliver his policy speech and for interpellations by party representatives, government sources said. The current Diet session ends Wednesday.
However, the two opposition parties -- the LDP and the New Komeito party -- agreed Tuesday to seek the convening of the parliamentary session on Sept. 9.
As top priorities, Noda has indicated he will work to compile and pass the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011, aimed at full-fledged reconstruction from the disasters, while trying to build good relations with Japan's two major opposition parties for the time being.
