Hoping to strengthen his powerbase after winning a three-year term as head of Japan's ruling party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday filled several key party positions and prepared to choose a new lineup for his Cabinet.
Bowing to pressure from his rivals, Koizumi replaced ally Taku Yamasaki in the Liberal Democratic Party's No. 2 slot of secretary general with Shinzo Abe, a popular and outspoken rising star who has recently made a name for himself by advocating a hard line toward North Korea.
Yamasaki would stay on as vice president, said LDP spokeswoman Mariko Kodera.
Koizumi's re-election on Saturday has given the popular leader a new mandate to push ahead with his austere economic policies and efforts to reform Japan's government. Koizumi's critics have slammed him for not doing enough to turn around the economy, which is in the throes of its worst slowdown in decades.
But while Koizumi won re-election by a wide margin -- taking 399 of 657 votes cast by the party's rank and file and its members of Parliament -- he faced fierce jockeying among the party's factions for the top party and Cabinet posts.
His demotion of Yamasaki, who has been dogged by scandals, underscored concern in the party that he might hurt their image heading into parliamentary elections Koizumi is expected to call in November.
Moving to quell a threatened rebellion, Koizumi also gave Fukushiro Nukaga, a member of the largest faction, headed by former prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, the post of top policy adviser. He retained party veteran Mitsuo Horiuchi in the other top post of general council head, Kodera said.
Koizumi was to meet with leaders of the party's two junior coalition partners and announce the Cabinet today.
When he won his first term in April 2001, Koizumi surprised -- and angered -- many in the ruling party by ignoring the delicate factional balance of power and instead making the unusual move of naming several Cabinet ministers from the private sector.
On Saturday, he said he was ready for a fight.
"I am sure there will be people who aren't satisfied," he told a rally just before winning re-election. "I haven't made any promises to anyone."
His Cabinet selections were being closely watched as an indication of just how determined he was to stick with the economic reforms that he has championed but that have been panned by many within the party.
The most important position up for grabs in the Cabinet was the post of finance minister. Koizumi's current minister, Masajuro Shiokawa, who is 81 years old, is in ill health and has suggested he would not be able to accept the post if it was offered to him.
The fate of his economic policy adviser, former professor Heizo Takenaka, was also a focus of intense speculation. Koizumi has repeatedly defended Takenaka, whose crackdown on banks has been criticized by lawmakers but lauded by foreign investors.
Koizumi vowed Saturday to continue to push for deregulation and privatization of such government institutions as the post office and the highway system. He has stood by government spending limits.
Though unemployment and bankruptcies remain high, recent government figures have given his case a boost.
Statistics released last week showed the economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.9 percent in the most recent quarter -- faster than the 2.4 percent posted by the US.
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