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| New leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shinzo Abe (R) smiles with newly elected party executives, Hidenao Nakagawa (2L) of LDP Secretary General and Yuya Niwa (L) of the party's decision-making General Council chairman at the party headquarters in Tokyo. Abe was to become Japan's youngest prime minister and the nation's first leader born after World War II on Tuesday, replacing the veteran Junichiro Koizumi.[AFP] |
Shinzo Abe, an advocate of tighter military ties with the United States, was set to be elected Japan's prime minister by parliament on Tuesday, confirming him at 52 as the country's youngest leader since World War Two.
The hawkish Abe, a relativenoviceby Japanese political standards, faces the challenges of repairing ties with China -- frayed by predecessorJunichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni war shrine -- and keeping economic reforms on track whileaddressingvoter concerns about widening social gaps.
Abe, elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party last week by a two-thirds majority, was to be approved as prime minister by both chambers of parliament, where the party holds a majority, and will announce his cabinet the same day.
A soft-spoken, popular lawmaker whose grandfather was also prime minister, Abe has pledged to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution, boost Tokyo's say in global affairs, and revive respect for traditional values and pride in Japan's past.
He has also promised to nurture growth while pushing ahead with the economic reforms begun by Koizumi, and give precedence to spending cuts before tax rises in the struggle to rein in Japan's huge public debt, the biggest among advanced countries.
Abe's ascent to the nation's top job brings down the curtain on the sometimes tumultuous reign of Koizumi, one of Japan's most colourful and popular leaders in decades.
Koizumi, a media-savvy maverick known for snappy soundbites and cameo appearances with celebrities, stamped his mark on Japan's political scene after taking power in April 2001 with promises to pry his party loose from the grip of vested interests and lift government's heavy hand from the stalled economy.
(Agencies)
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