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On September 3, DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama answered reporters’ questions at party headquarters. He revealed that he had met with Acting President Ichiro Ozawa and asked him to become the next DPJ Secretary General, and that Ozawa had responded he would “support [him] with all his might”. He reiterated “I have decided to ask Acting President Ozawa to be the next Secretary General.”
Hatoyama said “From now on we have to ensure that the decision-making processes within the party and within the administration are indivisible”, revealing he believed it preferable not to wait too long before deciding on who would fill the post of Secretary General.
At the same time, Hatoyama stressed, “Ozawa has really worked hard, both in a sense as a former President and moreover since becoming Acting President, and I feel that it is due to him that we have been able to gain more than 300 seats.” He added that in “[the forthcoming] House of Councillors election, the DPJ must make every effort in order to obtain victory. We also need to hold firm to the belief that we are governing on behalf of the people.” He explained that “from both these perspectives, I intended to ask Ozawa to accept the post of Secretary General.”
Hatoyama said that the time between the end of the election and his appointment as Prime Minister was lengthy, and, commented “I have to consider the mood within the party, so I felt that I must first decide on the key post of Secretary General. So it ended up being today [that I announced it]”
With regard to other party posts, Hatoyama said, “That is a matter for future discussion” and added, “The next Secretary General will play a central role in deciding on the timing and proceeding with this.”
Furthermore, with regard to current Secretary General Okada, Hatoyama said, “I am intending to ask him to accept a key Cabinet position.” He added, “It is still too early for such appointments, so it is not the time to discuss that now.” He stressed, “Strictly speaking, Cabinet posts are decided after the Prime Minister has been appointed, and so it would be unthinkable for a formal decision to be made prior to that.” With regard to the party executive however, he said he believed it “to be possible” to decide those posts prior to the appointment of the Prime Minister on September 16.
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