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Japan's Hatoyama in lead to head opposition party
Thu May 14, 2009 12:55am EDT
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By Yoko Nishikawa and Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - The leading candidate to head Japan's main opposition party ahead of a looming general election unveiled a platform on Thursday centering on its aim to cut wasteful spending, but sought to distance himself from a rival over debate on the nation's sales tax.
Democratic Party lawmakers will choose a party leader on Saturday after Ichiro Ozawa quit over a funding scandal to revive the party's chances of ending half a century of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Polls show the Democrats still ahead among voters before the general election, which must be held by October.
Yukio Hatoyama, a fourth-generation politician, has taken the lead for the top party post, a survey of lawmakers by the Nikkei business daily showed, although more voters prefer younger rival Katsuya Okada, the clean-cut son of a supermarket magnate.
Hatoyama, blasting the LDP for leaving policy up to bureaucrats and wasting precious government money, said his goals were not much different from Okada's.
"There should not be a big difference between our policies, since both of us have worked on policy-making as senior members of the party," Hatoyama told a news conference.
But he said he was against even debating an increase in the 5 percent sales tax, which economist say is needed to map a way to fund ballooning social security costs for a fast-aging society.
"I think there may be a difference between (Okada) being more positive about the consumption tax, while I see no need to even discuss it now," he said.
"But there is no difference in our basic thinking."
Okada has said Japan's 5 percent sales tax will have to be raised eventually to fund bulging pension costs, but he is also against a rise any time soon.
If Hatoyama becomes party leader, the sales tax could become an issue in the election, with the LDP likely to charge the Democrats of being irresponsible on fiscal policy.
Prime Minister Taro Aso has said the tax should be raised from 2011 if the economy recovers.
WOOING VOTERS
The Democrats are trying to woo back voter support after a funding scandal involving Ozawa's close aide erupted and threatened their bid to defeat the unpopular Aso's LDP in the election.
In a survey covering four-fifths of Democrat lawmakers, nearly half said they would support Hatoyama while 30 percent said they would vote for Okada, the Nikkei said. Continued...
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