Yasuo Fukuda, a quiet compromiser who has promised to bring stability and moderation to Japan's tumultuous political scene, was elected prime minister by the lower house of parliament yesterday.
Fukuda garnered 338 votes in the lower house, many more than the 239 needed for a majority. His closest competitor was Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, with 117 votes.
The vote guaranteed Fukuda's installment as Japan's next leader.
Ozawa won the vote in the weaker upper house, controlled by the opposition party, but the lower house decision holds sway under Japanese political regulations.
Fukuda, 71, the first son of a prime minister to also serve in the post, has pledged to keep Japan as a strong US ally in the fight against terrorism, improve relations with Asia and address growing inequalities in the world's second-largest economy.
The lower house vote came only hours after outgoing prime minister Shinzo Abe emerged from hospital to dissolve his Cabinet and formally resign after only a year in office.
Fukuda was selected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Sunday and has been setting up his incoming administration since then. He met yesterday morning with Akihiro Ota, the head of the LDP's New Komei ruling coalition partner, to reaffirm the parties' alliance ahead of the parliamentary vote.
On Monday, Fukuda tapped the heads of three internal LDP factions that had supported him for top party posts, immediately triggering criticism from the opposition that he was rewarding allies with no regard for policy.
Yesterday he gave the powerful outgoing foreign minister the key post of Cabinet chief and brought in a noted conservative as defense minister.
Outgoing foreign minister Nobutaka Machimura, who heads the most powerful faction in the LDP, was named chief cabinet secretary, making him Fukuda's main aide and chief spokesman.
Machimura said the government's top goal would be to extend legislation allowing a naval mission -- which the resurgent opposition wants to scrap -- that supports US-led forces in the "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
"The biggest challenge in the upcoming parliament session is the anti-terrorism legislation. Therefore these are the cabinet ministers who are going to make efforts to enact the law," Machimura told a news conference.
He said that Masahiko Komura, who was defense minister in the outgoing cabinet and like Fukuda is known for his efforts to build ties with China, will move to the foreign minister's position.
Fukuda gave the defense minister's post to Shigeru Ishiba, a conservative who supports a greater military role for Japan overseas.
Ishiba, who will now play a key role in trying to extend the Indian Ocean mission, was the defense chief when Japan made its even more controversial deployment of troops to Iraq.
The economic team stayed the same, with Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota to remain.
Fukuda kept in place two ministers who were widely expected to leave because they backed his conservative rival Taro Aso for the premiership: Trade Minister Akira Amari and Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama.
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