LDP, DPJ launch full-fledged preparations for Aug. 30 election+

TOKYO, July 22 Kyodo -
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of
Japan on Wednesday embarked on full-scale preparations for campaigning toward
an Aug. 30 general election, one day after Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved
the House of Representatives.

Both parties held meetings with officials from their local chapters in charge
of election strategies to try and boost morale for the crucial national
election that could determine whether the DPJ seizes power away from the
long-dominant LDP.
In the LDP gathering held at a Tokyo hotel, Aso, who doubles as LDP president,
apologized for the recent internal squabbling within his party and said, ''We,
including myself, have to contest the election in strong unity with feelings as
if we have been reborn.''
He was referring to the recent intraparty disarray stemming from some LDP
lawmakers who attempted to remove Aso from the post of president to pick a new
leader.
Aso also underscored his achievements in the 10 months since taking office last
September, saying his economic steps have prevented Japan's economy from
hitting a new low and helped raise a series of economic indicators.
''I would like the people to let the LDP, which is capable of adopting
appropriate steps, assume the responsibility in steering the economy,'' he
said, while adding, ''I have no objections to the view that the election will
be tough (for the LDP).''
Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP's upper house caucus, also said, ''The
election is a fight with our backs to the wall. I expect you to work
furiously.''
But Aso met criticism from the LDP election officials in the meeting. They
accused the LDP leadership of damaging the party's reputation with the turmoil
and demanded a good campaign platform be adopted quickly.
One official from Okinawa Prefecture said that, so as to win back voter
support, the LDP leadership needs to unite strongly ahead of the election and
come up with excellent campaign policies. ''We are going to face an uphill
battle and need a weapon to fight,'' he said.
An official from Nagano Prefecture asked the leadership to make clear the
status of LDP Election Strategy Council Chairman Makoto Koga, who last week
offered his resignation to take the blame for a series of losses in major local
elections.
''Mr. Koga had traveled across the country for the past one year and we respect
what he has done for us,'' he said. ''We request that Mr. Koga remain in the
post so we can fight through the election.''
Aso, who has not received his resignation, told him that the LDP has set up the
Election Strategy Headquarters and tapped Koga as acting head along with
Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda, adding that Koga accepted it.
An official from Fukui Prefecture, meanwhile, asked Aso to stop apologizing,
saying that the premier should bring to the fore his ''extremely cheerful,
lively'' character.
In a separate gathering, DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama told local chapter officials
of the party, ''I would like you to make waves to change Japan.''
''It is time we destroy bureaucracy-led politics that have lasted since the
Meiji Restoration and create a new politics in which people play the central
role,'' he said. ''I would like to take on this major fight with a historic
sense of mission.''
A victory for the DPJ in the election would put an end to the LDP's almost
total control of Japanese politics since 1955, and analysts say the main
opposition could well win the general election.
Also on Wednesday, DPJ sources said that Ichiro Ozawa, the party's acting
president, has decided not to run from the No. 12 electoral district in Tokyo
as speculated but will run in his original constituency in Iwate Prefecture.
Ozawa has told the sources he wants to avoid a head-on fight with Akihiro Ota,
leader of the New Komeito party, who plans to run in the Tokyo district,
indicating Ozawa's willingness to tie up with the New Komeito, the LDP's
coalition partner, following the national election.
There has been speculation that the New Komeito would move to establish a
ruling coalition with the DPJ, in addition to the Social Democratic Party and
the People's New Party, if the DPJ beats the LDP but fails to secure a majority
in the 480-seat lower house.
When Ozawa was DPJ president, then Secretary General Hatoyama announced that
Ozawa would not run from the Iwate district. By running from the Tokyo
district, Ozawa is believed to have aimed to rattle the stronghold for the New
Komeito.
Also, Masaaki Itokawa, a former lower house member from the People's New Party,
has amicably switched to the DPJ, demonstrating the close ties between the two
opposition parties.
He will run in the general election in the Fukui No. 2 constituency in Fukui
Prefecture on the DPJ ticket as requested by the Fukui Prefecture chapter of
the Japanese Trade Union Organization, a powerful DPJ backer.
==Kyodo