Japan's upper house chooses Ichiro Ozawa as prime minister
24/9/2008 17:39
The House of Councillors today elected Ichiro Ozawa, chief of Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ) newly reelected for a third term, as Japan's prime
minister.
Ozawa, who failed to obtain the majority of 121 votes required to
be elected in the voting, won 125 out of a total of 240 valid ballots in the
second round of polling at the 242-seat upper house.
Earlier in the day, the
House of Representatives picked Taro Aso, chief of Japan's ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP), as the nation's head of government.
As the two
chambers produced different outcomes, a joint panel of both chambers was asked
to negotiate a solution and its efforts are doomed to failure. Under such
circumstances, the election outcome in the lower house will be the final
decision of the Diet as specified by the Constitution.
Aso was thus virtually
elected the nation's 92th prime minister.
Xinhua
|
