Posted on 09/22/2008 11:55:41 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Taro Aso, Japan’s former foreign minister, was on Monday night poised to become the country’s fourth prime minister in just over two years after easily winning an election to head the ruling Liberal Democratic party.
Mr Aso, 68, beat Kaoru Yosano, the fiscally conservative economics minister, by 351 votes to 66, while Yuriko Koike, the first woman to compete for the job, was a distant third with 46.
As leader of the biggest party, Mr Aso will be named prime minister in an extraordinary Diet session on Wednesday. He will succeed Yasuo Fukuda, who abruptly resigned after less than a year as his administration ground to a halt because of opposition in the Diet’s Upper House.
Mr Fukuda succeeded the equally short-lived Mr Shinzo Abe, who replaced Junichiro Koizumi in September 2006. Mr Aso is expected to dissolve parliament shortly and call a general election which the opinion polls suggest the LDP could lose, a move that would dramatically rewrite Japan’s political landscape.
Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, has vowed to wrest control from the LDP, which has dominated power for virtually the entire postwar period. A colourful political figure, Mr Aso wrote a bestseller called Tremendous Japan in which he proposed an “arc of freedom and prosperity” to help countries from eastern Europe to Asia to entrench democracy and achieve rapid economic growth.
The book was seen by some as seeking to isolate China and Russia. However, he is thought likely to continue Japan’s recent thaw in relations with China, and has vowed to focus on boosting the economy.
“I felt very strongly that Japan is going through an economic slowdown,” Mr Aso said of his time touring the country during the LDP election campaign. “It is one of my biggest missions to address the fears of the public about many things, such as retirement and the economy.”
Mr Aso’s first parliamentary test will come during the extraordinary session of the Diet, when he will aim to pass a Y1,800bn ($17bn) supplementary budget containing an economic stimulus package. Some commentators say Mr Aso’s administration is likely to indulge in deficit financing as he seeks to speed up economic growth.
“He does represent the old guard...so tax cuts and subsidies are the order of the day,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. However, Mr Aso says his government will focus on targeted tax cuts aimed at stimulating private investment.
In before the Aso jokes :)
Trust me, it’s tempting, LOL
Ah so.....
(d@mn! you ruined it!)
My wife, who is native Japanese, also tells me that Aso is a Catholic. Quite a shocker, really.
I see you are tired of smiling, so allow me to offer my sincerest apology for having ruined it. :))
Business as usual. Two more decades of zero growth.
yitbos
Most of our leaders are Aso's, too.
Nothing new here — they’ve been electing Aso’s for PM for a long time now — the US has been elecitng Aso’s for Pres (think Clintack)
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