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Maehara Elected Pres. Of DPJ, Japan's Biggest Opposition

Posted on: Saturday, 17 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Tokyo, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)--Seiji Maehara, former acting secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan, was elected president of Japan's largest opposition party on Saturday, defeating Naoto Kan, former party president, by a very slim margin.

Maehara, 43, succeeds Katsuya Okada, who resigned soon after the party suffered a major setback in the general election held last Sunday.

Maehara was chosen as DPJ president at a meeting of all lawmakers of the party. Of 192 ballots cast, Maehara garnered 96, and Kan, the 58-year-old rival candidate, collected 94. There were two invalid votes.

Maehara will serve Okada's remaining term as DPJ president until the end of September 2006.

For Maehara, the biggest task would be rebuilding the party, which secured only 113 seats in the election of the 480-seat House of Representatives, far short of its preelection strength of 177 seats. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, New Komeito, won a combined 327 seats.

Prior to the opening of an extraordinary parliamentary session on Wednesday, Maehara will form a new executive team, including a secretary-general.

Maehara, a former member of the Kyoto prefectural assembly, has been elected to the Lower House five times.

A graduate from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which was created by Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. group., Maehara has once been a junior partner for Kan in party activity.

Maehara, an expert in security policy and shadow defense minister, advocates a revision to Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which renounces use of force to settle international disputes.END

Source: Jiji Press English News Service

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