Brash conservative Taro Aso easily won the presidency of Japan’s struggling ruling party yesterday, virtually ensuring his election as prime minister later this week amid political and economic turmoil.
Aso, 68, a former foreign minister and grandson of a prominent prime minister, received 351 of the 525 votes cast in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ballot.
His triumph over four rivals had been widely expected.
The former Olympic skeetshooter immediately vowed to rejuvenate his troubled party and lead it to victory in elections in the powerful lower house of parliament, though he dodged questions about when he might call such a ballot.
“Who else but our party can achieve policies in order to address the public’s concerns?” Aso asked at LDP headquarters. “I am committed to winning the elections and taking further steps to achieve economic recovery and pursue reforms.”
Aso, a sharp-tongued conservative who favors the alliance with the US and a diplomatically assertive Japan, backs government spending to revive the economy.
Aso is all but guaranteed to be elected prime minister in the LDP-dominated parliament on Wednesday, making him the third leader Japan has had since September 2006 — and the first Roman Catholic to hold the job.
Outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda threw the political world into disarray three weeks ago when he announced he would step down after only a year in office, weary of battling a divided parliament.
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