Toshiki Kaifu, the man most likely to become Japan's next prime minister, called onday for a drastic overhaul of an unpopular sales tax but endorsed the ruling party's economic and foreign policies.
"We must revamp the sales tax into a welfare-only tax to win support for our policy to finance Japan's aging society," Kaifu, a former education minister, said in a speech at a Liberal Democratic Party convention."On the whole, we, the LDP, have not been wrong in protecting freedom and democracy and promoting prosperity among the people," he said.
The convention was called to hear policy speeches by the three candidates running for party president. By virtue of the LDP's majority in the lower house, the winner becomes prime minister. The new president will be named premier Wednesday after a parliamentary vote.
In Tuesday's vote for the party head, Kaifu, 58, is set to win as he has mustered the support of most factions within the LDP, party sources said.
The other two candidates are former welfare minister Yoshiro Hayashi and former transport minister and popular author Shintaro Ishihara.
Outgoing premier Sousuke Uno has announced he will resign to take responsibility for the LDP's worst electoral defeat in the July 23 upper house elections.
The LDP lost its majority for the first time since the party was formed in 1955, mainly because of the sales tax, allegations that senior party members received large donations from the Recruit telecommunications and publishing group and farmers' discontent over government policies to ease tariffs on farm imports.
Allegations that Uno paid a geisha for sex also hurt the ruling party.