YASUO FUKUDA ELECTED NEW PM
On Tuesday 25 September, Mr Yasuo Fukuda was elected by the Diet (Japanese
Parliament) as the 91st Japanese Prime Minister, succeeding Mr. Shinzo Abe.
Mr Fukuda, 71, was Chief Cabinet Secretary under former Prime Ministers
Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi. The House of Representatives (lower chamber) voted for Mr Fukuda, while the House of Councillors (upper
chamber, in which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, lost its
majority in the July election) voted for Mr Ichiro Ozawa, president of the
main opposition Democratic Party. Since the upper and lower chambers
disagreed and no agreement was reached at a joint committee, the lower
chamber's decision took precedence over that of the upper house in
accordance with the Constitution.
Later that same day, Mr Fukuda's new Cabinet was announced. Taking into
consideration that the parliamentary session is ongoing, Prime Minister
Fukuda retained most members of the previous cabinet with a few exceptions.
Foreign Minister Mr Nobutaka Machimura was appointed as Chief Cabinet
Secretary. Defense Minister Mr Masahiko Komura returned as Foreign
Minister. Mr. Shigeru Ishiba, who served as defense minister in the
Koizumi cabinet, was named Defense Minister again. The lineup of Mr
Fukuda's new Cabinet will be available soon at www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html .
Two days earlier, at the party leadership election on Sunday 23 September,
Mr Fukuda was elected as the 22nd President of the LDP by LDP Diet members
and by delegates from local chapters. Mr Fukuda defeated his only
contender Mr Taro Aso, secretary-general of the LDP and a former Foreign
Minister. The next day, as new LDP President, Mr Fukuda appointed the new
LDP executive posts, which will be listed at www.jimin.jp/jimin/english/index.html .
For more information please visit the Japan Foreign Press Centre.
