Hatoyama, Okada formally announce candidacies for DPJ election+

TOKYO, May 14 Kyodo - Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and Vice President Katsuya Okada formally announced their candidacies Thursday for the party's presidential election on Saturday to pick a successor to Ichiro Ozawa, with both vowing to topple the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and bring about a regime change.

Hatoyama, 62, who supported Ozawa as leader of the party, said in a press
conference that if he wins the race he would like Ozawa to play ''a major
role,'' but denied that the new leadership would be a ''puppet regime'' of the
outgoing leader, who announced his resignation Monday in the wake of a
fundraising scandal.
Hatoyama also expressed his willingness to promote Okada, 55, who is expected
to be his only rival in the presidential race, to an important position as he
enjoys wide support among the public.
Okada, who is supported by lawmakers who maintained a distance from Ozawa,
known for his highhanded party management style, also said he would certainly
give the outgoing leader an executive post if he is elected party president.
''We can't achieve a regime change unless we utilize all our human resources,''
Okada said at a separate press conference later in the day. But he stopped
short of mentioning a specific post for Ozawa.
Hatoyama said, ''I expect President Ozawa to work actively as a member of the
DPJ in order to realize a change of administration. I would like him to join
the new leadership.''
Hatoyama denied speculation that Ozawa is trying to retain his influence in the
party by ''transferring'' the leadership to Hatoyama, saying, ''There has been
no designation of a successor (by Ozawa). A resigning president should not talk
about who should become his or her successor.''
On his policies, Hatoyama voiced opposition to raising the consumption tax
rate, saying, ''We should not even discuss hiking'' the tax as there are many
people facing tough living conditions amid widening social disparities.
Okada said he would like the government to raise the consumption tax by 3
percentage points at some stage in order to drastically reform the nation's
pension system, but added it should not take place in the near future.
Okada also said he would like to maintain the policy of cooperating with other
opposition parties in areas such as elections, to better counter the ruling
coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party.
Hatoyama and Okada both called for promoting the decentralization of power from
the central to local governments, while implementing administrative reform
including a total ban on the practice of ''amakudari,'' in which senior
bureaucrats land postretirement jobs at entities related to the sectors they
formerly supervised.
Their policies also include banning political donations from companies and
groups as well as placing restrictions on candidates ''inheriting'' their
constituencies from relatives.
Hatoyama called for reducing the number of seats in the proportional
representation section of the House of Representatives by 80, while Okada vowed
to develop a new growth strategy centering on measures to tackle global
warming.
Hatoyama, who served as leader of the main opposition party from 1999 to 2002,
was born into a political family, with his grandfather a former prime minister
and his father a former foreign minister. His brother Kunio, an LDP lawmaker,
is currently serving as internal affairs and communications minister.
Okada also served as president of the DPJ from 2004 to 2005 before resigning
from the post to take responsibility of the party's loss in the House of
Representatives election in September 2005.