Lawmakers re-elected Toshiki Kaifu as prime minister Tuesday and he immediately began efforts to form a new Cabinet, flexing new-found political muscle two weeks after leading his party to victory at the polls.
Kaifu bowed after the vote in the lower house of Parliament, which is dominated by his conservative Liberal Democratic Party, while members hailed him with a round of rousing applause and scattered cheers.Of 508 valid votes cast in the 512-seat chamber, Kaifu won 286. His closest rival, Socialist Party Chairwoman Takako Doi, received 146 votes. Kaifu needed 255 votes for a majority.
Immediately after the lower house vote, the owner of Japan's highest office rushed off without comment to meet party leaders to work out a new Cabinet lineup.
Kaifu was expected to reappoint Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama to continue their work on revising an unpopular new sales tax and easing trade friction with the United States.
The 59-year-old prime minister leaves Friday for two days of trade and other talks with President Bush in Palm Springs, Calif.
Parliament's upper and lower houses convened Tuesday for a special 120-day session, the first since Kaifu steered his Liberal Democrats through difficult elections for the lower house Feb. 18.
Kaifu has strengthened his hand since the elections but powerful party leaders have challenged his move to keep scandal-tainted politicians from the new Cabinet, officials said Monday.
The tax and an influence-peddling scandal, which tainted many party elders, stirred doubts over whether the Liberal Democrats could keep their 34-year-old hold on power.
Kaifu, who has a clean image but weak power base, assumed the party leadership in August after the influence-peddling and a sex scandal forced two predecessors to step down, and the party lost upper house elections in July.
Kaifu formed an unusually young Cabinet and, for the first time, gave two important ministerial posts to women. But his image suffered from a public perception of him as manipulated by elders, who assumed low profiles because of links to the Recruit scandal.
The Feb. 18 voting left the Liberal Democrats with a comfortable lower house majority, however, and Kaifu suggested the results should strengthen his leadership position.
-THE TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE'S key index rebounded strongly Tuesday from its second-steepest one-day plunge ever as investors took comfort from advances on major overseas markets, analysts said.
The dollar continued its gain against the Japanese yen for the sixth consecutive trading day, reaching an eight-month high despite heavy dollar-selling by Japan's central bank in support of the yen.