Yasuo Fukuda Elected As Japan's New Prime Minister

Yasuo Fukuda, a quiet compromiser who has promised to bring stability and moderation to Japan's tumultuous political scene, was elected prime minister by the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday.

The weaker upper house later voted for opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, forcing a conference between the two chambers. The two sides, however, failed to form a consensus - a move that confirmed Fukuda as prime minister under parliamentary rules. The vote thrust Fukuda, 71, into the difficult job of battling calls for snap elections, negotiating with a resurgent opposition, and rebuilding the hobbled ruling Liberal Democratic Party left behind by his nationalist predecessor, Shinzo Abe. "The situation surrounding the LDP is very severe, and we face difficulty in keeping the government under control without cooperation from all party members," Fukuda told reporters after the election. Fukuda's Cabinet was to be announced later Tuesday. His first order of business will be winning passage of legislation extending Japan's naval mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. The opposition, which controls the upper house, has vowed to defeat it. In the vote for prime minister, Fukuda garnered 338 ballots in the lower house, many more than the 239 needed for a majority. His closest competitor was Ozawa, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, with 117 votes. Fukuda, the first son of a prime minister to also serve in the post, has pledged to keep Japan as a strong U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, improve relations with Asia, and address growing inequalities in the world's second-largest economy. The lower house vote came hours after Abe, 53, emerged from a hospital - where he has been since Sept. 13 after announcing he would quit - to dissolve his Cabinet and formally resign after only a year in office. Fukuda was selected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday, and has been setting up his administration since then. On Monday, Fukuda tapped the heads of three internal LDP factions that had supported him for top party posts, immediately triggering criticism from the opposition that he was rewarding allies with no regard for policy. The opposition on Tuesday showed no signs of backing off its intention to use its majority in the upper house to block the Afghan measure, despite Fukuda's vow to push for negotiations in search of a compromise. "We are fully prepared to discuss anything with the LDP, but Mr. Fukuda hasn't presented us his political vision," said Democratic Party executive Kenji Yamaoka.

Taking Over An Uphill Task

Fukuda inherits a political landscape left in tumult by Abe's troubled leadership. Abe stunned the nation when he announced Sept. 12 that he wanted to quit, and checked into a hospital the following day for unspecified stress-related abdominal complaints. He told reporters on Monday that he quit because of ailing health. "I want to extend my apologies to the people for not being able to complete my duties," Abe said Tuesday in a statement that outgoing top government spokesman Kaoru Yosano read to reporters following the Cabinet's final meeting. Though popular at the outset of his term, Abe's approval ratings had fallen to about 30%. Four Cabinet ministers resigned in money-related scandals, and an agriculture minister committed suicide in May. A final blow came when he led the LDP to elections in July in which they lost control of the upper house to the opposition - a defeat that has ignited growing calls to hold snap elections for the lower house to further test the LDP's popularity. Fukuda, whose father Takeo Fukuda served as prime minister from 1976 to 1978, is known as a steady, experienced hand in political negotiations. He served as chief Cabinet secretary in 2000-2004, but had to resign after saying he had unwittingly skipped payments to the national pension system. His arrival essentially put Abe's nationalist agenda in the deep-freeze. Abe had pushed to revise the pacifist Constitution, bolster patriotic education in public schools, and take an unapologetic view of Japan's World War II invasions. Few in Japan expect Fukuda to have an easy spell in office. "The LDP chose its new leader, but the party crisis is not over," the national Mainichi newspaper said in an editorial. "Fukuda must live up to his words that the government and the LDP will start over anew."