Aso set to be voted Japan's PM, survey says

JAPAN: Conservative former foreign minister Taro Aso is almost certain to win the race to be Japan's next prime minister with a comfortable majority, a poll published Monday said.

According to an earlier survey, Aso had a narrow majority of lawmakers on his side ahead of this month's vote of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to replace unpopular Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who quit two weeks ago.

But a new survey by the mass circulation Yomiuri Shimbun conducted on the weekend of LDP lawmakers and members of regional party chapters with voting rights shows Aso has secured 300 out of 527 votes.

Aso, who supports government spending to revive Asia's troubled largest economy, has run unsuccessfully three times before to be prime minister.

He was initially considered the front-runner last year for the race then to be premier until LDP leaders rallied around Fukuda, a veteran lawmaker seen as a pair of safe hands. Fukuda abruptly quit on September 1. Four rival lawmakers are challenging Aso in the September 22 vote, including Yuriko Koike, a former defence and environment minister.

Tokyo, Monday,

AFP