Democratic Party of Japan starts talks with outgoing govt

15:06, 2 September 2009

TOKYO. September 2. KAZINFORM. The Democratic Party of Japan, which took the Japanese parliament under its control as a result of the general elections, held last Sunday, began talks on Wednesday with the Liberal Democratic Party, which suffered a defeat at the elections, but is still the ruling party of the country. A working group was formed in Tokyo for that purpose, headed by Katsuya Okada, Secretary General of the Democratic Party, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

The Liberal Democratic Party has been the ruling party in Japan since 1955, with a short interval early in the 90s. This is why Japan, unlike the U.N. or Britain, does not have a mechanism of the turning over of powers from one political party to another.

In this connection Katsuya Okada, Secretary General of the Democratic Party urged, in the first place, to establish cooperation between the winner and the loser of the elections in the spheres of fighting the new grippe, maintaining the regime of preparedness for natural calamities and ensuring the national security of Japan. He said that the Liberal Democratic Party, which is to become an opposition party, should render assistance to the winning party in drafting a budget for the fiscal year of 2010, to explain the system of ensuring the fulfilment of items of the budget and to open for them the diplomatic information they might need.

Yukio Hatoyama, 62, the leader of the Democratic Party, is expected to be elected prime minister at the extraordinary session of the Japanese parliament, due to be held on September 16. He plans to announce the make-up of his government on the same day, or on September 17; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.

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