|
On May 19, a General Meeting of DPJ Diet Members was held at party headquarters, and the changes in the DPJ executive, which included the appointment of Ichiro Ozawa as Acting President (In charge of Election Campaigning) and Katsuya Okada as Secretary General were officially approved.
At the start of the meeting, President Yukio Hatoyama announced the personnel changes, saying, “What we are aiming for is to unite the party, win the general election, and sweep Japan clean.” He emphasised his resolution, stressing, “I want us to change society into one that values human ties, to work towards a society in which each and every one of us recognises this necessity, a fraternal society.”
Hatoyama explained that he would appoint Vice President Katsuya Okada as Secretary General, and outgoing President Ichiro Ozawa as Acting President, while Azuma Koishiishi and Naoto Kan would continue as Acting Presidents. Regarding other personnel changes, he said that he would continue in the main with the current line-up, but announced a number of limited changes, proposing the appointment of Director-General of the Executive Office Tenzo Okumura as Chair of the Public Relations Committee, with current Public Relations Chair Yoshihiko Noda to take up the post of Deputy Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General Hirofumi Hirano to become new Director-General of the Executive Office.
The proposed changes were approved by a unanimous round of applause from the floor.
Next, incoming Secretary General Okada addressed the meeting, saying, “I envisage the role of Secretary General as being to support the President. On this occasion, we have three senior Acting Presidents, including former President Ozawa, so I wonder whether I will be able to live up to my task of supporting the President. I would like to ask Deputy Secretary General to support me and I will do my very best. We are aiming to achieve a change of government. I will do my best to achieve this. I ask for your cooperation.”
|
.jpg)
