Japan's Opposition aims at Govt by Sept 20

Japan's opposition Democratic Party, which polls show is likely to win power in an election on Sunday, would aim to form a Cabinet within three weeks so that the new Premier could attend a UN General Assembly meeting, a party official said.

Newspaper surveys predict Yukio Hatoyama's decade-old Democratic Party of Japan to win the August 30 vote by a landslide, ousting the business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party for only the second time since its 1955 founding.

DPJ Deputy Policy Chief Tetsuro Fukuyama said that unless a new Cabinet was in place by September 20, it would be impossible for the new Prime Minister to attend the UN General Assembly, where leaders are set to give speeches from September 23.

Reuters