Foreign Minister Sousuke Uno was elected prime minister Friday by parliament and handed the tasks of cleaning up Japan's sullied political world and averting a trade war with the United States.
Uno, 66, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, collected 285 of the 477 votes in a special session of the lower house of the Japanese parliament in which the opposition parties failed to unite behind one candidate.The upper house then cast 124 of its 220 votes for Uno, officially making him the prime minister, succeeding Noboru Takeshita, who was forced from office in Japan's worst political scandal since the end of the war.
Takeshita announced his intention April 25 to step down over the so-called Recruit insider stock trading scandal, ending 19 months of stormy rule.
Takeshita and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone have acknowledged responsibility for the scandal in which the Recruit Co., an information services conglomerate, allegedly tried to bribe 160 politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen with millions of dollars worth of stock, political donations and gifts.
The second-place candidate, Socialist Party Chairwoman Takako Doi, took 139 votes in the lower house and 65 in the upper house.
At a news conference before the vote, Uno promised to reform Japanese politics and fight President Bush's allegations that Japan, the world's second largest economic power, is an unfair trading partner.
The Bush administration has taken a tough stance on trade, accusing Japan last week of blocking imports of several American-made goods and threatening to impose sanctions if Japan does not change.
"Japan has no unfair trading practices," Uno said. "(The Bush administration) should refrain from a policy of hitting us over the head with a board."
Uno's critics, including two former prime ministers, said he does not have the power to carry out the promised political reforms.