Finance chief Kan elected Japan ruling party chief
TOKYO
Kan, 63, would succeed the unpopular Yukio Hatoyama, who stepped
two days earlier amid plunging approval ratings over broken
campaign promises and a political funding scandal. Because the
Democratic Party of Japan controls the more powerful lower house of
parliament, Kan was virtually certain to be chosen as prime
minister by lawmakers later in the day.
Kan defeated little-known Shinji Tarutoko, chairman of the lower
house environmental committee, by a vote of 291-129, with two
invalid ballots.
As prime minister, Kan will face daunting choices in how to lead
the world's second-largest economy, which is burdened with massive
public debt, sluggish growth and an aging, shrinking population. He
must also rally voter support ahead of upper house elections that
are due next month.
Kan told fellow party members ahead of the vote that they need
to deal with "money politics" and come clean.
"I will do my utmost, taking up the baton from Prime Minister
Hatoyama," he said in his speech. "Our first priority is to
regain the trust of the people."
On foreign policy, he described Japan's relationship with the
U.S. as the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy, but stressed the
importance of Japan's ties with regional neighbors.
"With the U.S.-Japan alliance the cornerstone of our diplomacy,
we must also work for the prosperity of the Asian region," he said
in a speech.
In a written candidate's statement Friday, Kan identified
economic recovery and growth as Japan's biggest challenge. Japan is
the slowest growing economy in Asia, and will almost certainly be
overtaken in size by China sometime this year. While exports and
factory output are rising, unemployment and deflation are
worsening.
"I will tackle and pull Japan out of deflation through
comprehensive measures from the government and the Bank of Japan,"
he said in the statement, hinting that he would seek greater
cooperation from the central bank.
He pledged to resume fiscal reforms and work toward sustainable
finances, including possible tax hikes, to ensure a strong social
security system for Japan's aging population. Addressing concerns
about financial scandals, he vowed to keep politics clean and
tighten campaign financing laws.
Kan is seen by many analysts as the DPJ's best hope for
restoring confidence in its ability to govern and deliver a viable
roadmap for the future.
He is everything Hatoyama was not -- decisive, outspoken and a
grass-roots populist with common roots. Unlike recent prime
ministers, he was not born into an elite political family. Several
past prime ministers, including Hatoyama, had fathers or
grandfathers who were also prime ministers.
"I grew up in a typical Japanese salaryman's family," Kan said
at a news conference Thursday. "I've had no special connections.
If I can take on a major role starting from such an ordinary
background, that would be a very positive thing for Japanese
politics."
Kan gained popularity in 1996 as health minister when he exposed
a government cover-up of HIV-tainted blood products that caused
thousands of hemophilia patients to contract the virus that causes
AIDS. During an E-coli outbreak that hit sprout growers hard, he
appeared on national television and ate sprouts to dispel rumors
that they were unsafe.