On October 1, DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa held a press conference in Kobe City, and revealed his thoughts on the party strategy for the next Diet session and the timing of the announcement of the new party executive to the assembled reporters.
At the start of the press conference Ozawa was asked about the party’s strategy for the forthcoming Diet session, to which he replied: “This will be the first Diet session for the Hatoyama Cabinet following the change of government, and so I think that public expectations will be extremely high.” He added “It should provide a good forum for Prime Minister Hatoyama to forthrightly expound on our call for “Putting People’s Lives First”, a political vision and policies that focuses on people’s daily lives.”
Ozawa went on to comment on the lineup for the new party executive, saying, “The senior posts for the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors will be decided simultaneously, so I would like to decide on the executive together with the Chair of the DPJ Caucus in the House of Councillors, Azuma Koshiishi, following the study session for the House of Councillors members that is to be held on October 6.
With regard to party administration, Ozawa referred to his recent fact-finding mission to the United Kingdom. He revealed that he had carried out specific research into actual issues faced by the DPJ, such as the way in which Diet administration and political funding should be carried out, the structure of the bureaucracy, the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians and the day-to-day activities of Diet members. He went on to say that he intended to summarise the results of his research in the near future, and ensure they are reflected in the future administration of the party and the Diet.
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