2008 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election

2008 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election
21 September 2008
 
Candidate Ichirō Ozawa
Result Unopposed
President before election

Ichirō Ozawa

 Elected President

Ichirō Ozawa

The 2008 Democratic Party of Japan presidential election was held on 21 September 2008 in accordance with the end of the presidential term which had commenced in 2006. Incumbent president Ichirō Ozawa was re-elected unopposed.[1][2]

Background

Ozawa had been elected to a full two-year term in September 2006, and during that time led the party to victory in the 2007 upper house elections, dealing a serious blow to the Liberal Democratic government. By September 2008, the DPJ was leading the polls against the ailing government and had seen off Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda, who each lasted just a year in office. Ozawa had successfully maintained unity in his leadership troika with Naoto Kan and Yukio Hatoyama, and was widely expected to be re-elected.[3]

Candidates

Candidate Offices held
Ichirō Ozawa
(age 66)
Iwate Prefecture		 Member of the House of Representatives (1969–)
President of the Democratic Party of Japan (2006–)

Contest

Discussion of whether the ballot should be contested was more serious than in September 2006. While Kan and Hatoyama once again endorsed Ozawa, Seiji Maehara repeatedly called for an open contest to spur policy debate, though declined to run himself. Maehara criticised Ozawa's policies as vague, including his security and taxation plans, and suggested that debate would clarify the party's position ahead of the next election. Yoshihiko Noda and Yukio Edano were rumoured to be considering standing, but ultimately declined as well.[3][4]

Ozawa announced he would seek re-election on 2 September[5] and was the only candidate to stand when nominations were taken on 8 September.[6] He was confirmed without a vote at the party convention on 21 September. He called for the ruling LDP to hold snap elections to the House of Representatives ahead of that party's own leadership contest, which concluded the following day.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Japan's DPJ re-elects Ozawa as leader". Taipei Times. 22 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Ozawa wins third term as party leader". United Press International. 8 September 2008.
  3. ^ a b Kamiya, Setsuko (9 August 2008). "For DPJ, it's solidarity vs. debate". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019.
  4. ^ Nagata, Kazuaki (28 August 2008). "Challenge Ozawa for sake of DPJ, Maehara urges". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019.
  5. ^ Ito, Masami (2 September 2008). "Ozawa to seek third DPJ term". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019.
  6. ^ Nagata, Kazuaki (9 September 2008). "Ozawa given a new DPJ mandate". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.
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