The newly elected head of Japan's ruling LDP party, Junichiro Koizumi, now faces the challenge of holding the support of his faction ridden party, while pushing through promised economic reforms to shore up Japan's troubled economic system.
'No recovery without reform' has been Koizumi's mantra, and his election on the back of a groundswell of rank and file support within the party is seen by commentators as marking a revolution in the way the LDP conducts its business.
He is now almost certain to become Prime Minister when Parliament votes on Thursday, following the government's decision to ditch the hugely unpopular Yoshiro Mori last month.
Koizumi's promises of fiscal and economic reform threaten to alienate LDP members who advocate more public spending to keep the economy afloat.
The first test of Koizumi's resolve will come on Thursday when he appoints the three top posts in his new cabinet.
One strong clue will be whether he chooses to reappoint the reform minded financial services minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, who wants to press ahead with the clean up of the Japanese banking system's bad loans that have weighed on the economist for over a decade.
