September 25, 2007
Fukuda Becomes New Japanese PM
After the abrupt resignation of Shinzo Abe earlier this month, Japan's Parliament yesterday confirmed the new leader of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, Yasuo Fukuda, as the country's prime minister.
At 71, Fukuda is Japan's oldest prime minister in over a decade -- in contrast to Abe, who at 52 was the youngest ever to hold the office. Fukuda is also part of a dynasty: His father, Takeo Fukuda, served as prime minister from 1976 to 1978.
One of Fukuda's first moves yesterday was to reshuffle Japan's Cabinet in a "regrouping of the Liberal Democratic party's old guard," the Financial Times writes, in an effort to stave off a challenge from the Democratic Party of Japan.
That party assumed control of the upper chamber this summer and "is now expected to press for an early dissolution of parliament by using its veto to force a political stalemate," according to the Times. Fukuda lost the vote for prime minister in the Parliament's upper chamber but won wide support in the more powerful lower chamber, which is still controlled by his own party. Japan's constitution mandates that the lower chamber ultimately decides the selection.
Abe, who is hospitalized for a stomach ailment, abruptly resigned on Sept. 12 after just a year in office amid signs that his party's power was waning. Asking his party to unite behind Fukuda, Abe yesterday apologized for "creating a political vacuum" in Japan.
