Japan’s main opposition party re-elected Ichiro Ozawa as its leader in a special convention yesterday, while five ruling party candidates made final pitches ahead of their party’s vote to replace outgoing Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda.
In sharp contrast to the ruling party’s crowded presidential race, Ozawa, one of the founders of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was unopposed. Yesterday’s convention was largely a formality — the party had already reappointed him as its leader on Sept. 8 for a two-year term.
“The time has come for us to create a new era for our nation,” Ozawa said in accepting the post. “It might be our last chance.”
PHOTO: AFP
Though he doesn’t have the forces behind him to take over Fukuda’s post, Ozawa’s re-election was seen by many as a sign the political gridlock that has largely paralyzed Japan’s political world for the past two years will continue, if not worsen.
Under Ozawa’s leadership, the DPJ has been making gains against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and took control of the upper house of parliament in elections in July last year. It has since managed to block or stall many of the main policy initiatives of the ruling party, and helped force Fukuda and his predecessor Shinzo Abe out in a span of less than two years.
Ozawa is now calling for snap elections in the powerful lower house to test the ruling party’s mandate with voters. Polls indicate such calls have public support and the rising pressure could force the LDP to comply as early as next month.
“The Liberal Democrats have destroyed their own political foundations,” Ozawa said. “The country can see that the Liberal Democrats no longer have the ability to govern the country.”
The LDP’s inability to override the DPJ’s stubborn resistance has led to what many in the party have called a crisis of both leadership and direction.
The abrupt resignation of Fukuda earlier this month — he said he felt he could not deal with the opposition’s uncooperative strategy — forced the LDP to call elections for the party presidency, and yesterday was the final day of campaigning.
The elections will be held today. The winner is virtually assured of becoming prime minister when parliament opens on Wednesday because the LDP and their junior coalition partner hold a majority in the lower house, which makes the final decision.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS