| |
 |
Landslide victory for Koizumi
|
MAVERIC reformist Junichiro Koizumi was elected president of Japan's ruling party in a landslide victory yesterday, and is to become Japan's 56th prime minister to succeed unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
The 59-year-old Koizumi is almost certain to become prime minister as the ruling coalition led by Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has a majority in the House of Representatives, which has the final say in selecting the premier. The Diet (parliament) vote for the premier is scheduled to be held on April 26.
The former health minister thus becomes the first LDP leader who won the party presidency without the backing of its largest faction in decades.
Koizumi won a stunning 298 votes from the party's 487-member electoral college comprising 346 parliament members plus the 141 votes of delegates from local chapters, against 155 votes by his main contender, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto who heads the biggest faction inside the LDP.
Koizumi was expected to begin work later yesterday on a new lineup of both the cabinet and the three key posts of the ruling party. He plans to launch a new cabinet on Thursday.(Xinhua)
|
|
|
|
