Moves to select new Japanese PM
Tuesday, 2 September 2008 17:56Members of Japan's ruling party have called for an internal election to decide who will be the country's next prime minister.
Executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are expected to formally approve the recommendation at a meeting tomorrow.
Hideo Usui, head of the LDP's election commission, said the panel called for candidates to express interest by 10 September and for the party to hold the election on 22 September.
The vote is for president of the LDP, who would then be voted in as prime minister by parliament.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda abruptly resigned yesterday in the face of tumbling approval ratings.
Mr Usui said he hoped the new prime minister would be able to fly to New York for part of the UN General Assembly, which opens on 23 September.
Japan's prime minister could not go to the General Assembly for either of the past two years because of leadership transitions in Tokyo.
The election's timing is seen as a bid to halt any momentum for the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds its own leadership election on 21 September.
Incumbent opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa is expected to win easily.
