Former deputy PM Okada takes reins of Democratic Party
Japan’s battle-scarred main opposition party on Sunday chose Katsuya Okada as its newleader as it tries to recover from a disastrous showing in December’s general election and years of drift.
PrimeMinister ShinzoAbe’s win last month — his second in two years— was believed by some commentators to be largely due to the absence of a credible alternative.
The Democratic Party of Japan, which governed for three years until December 2012, won just 73 seats in the 475-seat lower house where Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party has 291 seats.
Okada, a 61-year-old Harvardformer deputy prime minister, will have his work cut out rebuilding public trust in the nominally centerleft party. Its three years in power to December 2012 were characterized by power struggles, policy flip-flops and diplomatic missteps.
“Iwantto rebuild theDPJby returning to our starting point,” Okada said before DPJ lawmakers voted on Sunday.
“We are a party for consumers, ordinary citizens, taxpayers and working people,” he said.
“The DPJ seeks to have a diverse, tolerant society which recognizes various values ... and we also have to be a reformist party.”
Okada pledged that the DPJ’s economic policy would seek both growth and a smaller gap between rich and poor, saying, “Mr. Abe has no ideas about a rich-poor gap and income redistribution.”
The party appeared to offer a fresh start for Japan when it was elected in 2009, interrupting more than half a centuryof almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
But its three-year stint was characterized by policy missteps and diplomatic mistakes that left voters disillusioned.
The party was also criticized for its handling of the nuclear crisis in the aftermath of the deadlyMarch 2011 tsunami.
Its miserable performance in last month’s general election cost then-leader Banri Kaieda his job.
Commentators warn that a directionless opposition party is not good for Japan’s polity, and allows Abe almost unfettered rein.
They point to the record low 52.6 percent turnout in the general election as proof of voters’ disillusionment with a system of governance often criticized for pandering to vested interests.
Okada, who was the foreign minister in 2009-2010 and deputy prime minister in2012, is noted for his knowledge of policy and strict self-discipline including a refusal to accept all gifts — even Valentine’s Day chocolate.
The DPJ seeks to have a diverse, tolerant society which recognizes various values.”
Katsuya Okada , Leader of Democratic Party of Japan