2009 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election

Political leadership election in Japan November 2019 2009 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election Democratic Party of Japan Logo.svg legislative Caucus no 2008 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election 2008 June 2010 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election June 2010 16 May 2009 150x150px Yukio Hatoyama Hokkaido 9th CE2029 124 56.6% 150x150px Katsuya Okada Mie 3rd CE2029 95 43.4% President Ichirō Ozawa Yukio Hatoyama The 2009 Democratic Party of Japan leadership election was held on 16 May 2009. The election was held to replace outgoing president Ichirō Ozawa, who resigned in early May after being implicated in a corruption scandal. With an election looming later in the year, his successor would become the party's candidate for Prime Minister.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/11/japanese-opposition-leader-resigns Japan's main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa resigns over funding scandal 12 May 2009 The Guardian Yukio Hatoyama was elected leader with 124 votes against opponent Katsuya Okada, who won 95 votes.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/05/17/national/hatoyama-elected-head-of-dpj/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210303025433/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/05/17/national/hatoyama-elected-head-of-dpj/ 3 March 2021 17 May 2009 Hatoyama elected head of DPJ Ito Masami The Japan Times Hatoyama went on to win the August general election and become Prime Minister. Background Ozawa became president of the DPJ in 2006 and was re-elected twice unopposed in September 2006 and September 2008. During his tenure, he forged alliances with other minor opposition parties, and carried the party to victory in the 2007 upper house election, a major blow to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The government had struggled since the departure of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and by 2009 the DPJ was ahead in the polls and stood a good chance of taking power for the first time in that year's general election. In March, Ozawa's personal secretary was arrested over allegations that he had accepted 35 million yen in illegal donations from the Nishimatsu construction firm. Ozawa denied knowledge or involvement, but came under scrutiny and public pressure. By May, 70% of voters believed he could no longer remain leader. He announced his resignation on 12 May. Electoral system Candidates were required to gather endorsements from twenty (maximum 25) of the party's members of the National Diet in order to stand. Each Diet member was eligible to vote (221 total). If no candidate won more than 50% of votes, a runoff was to be held the same day. Nominations were taken on the 16th and the election held the same day. Candidates Katsuya Okada, Seiji Maehara, Yukio Hatoyama, and Naoto Kan were considered potential candidates. Of these, Hatoyama and Kan were understood to be closer to Ozawa's course, while Okada and Maehara were reformers. Candidate Offices held 100x100px Yukio Hatoyama(age 62)Hokkaido Member of the House of Representatives (1986–)President of the Democratic Party of Japan (1996–97, 1999–2002) 100x100px Katsuya Okada(age 55)Mie Prefecture Member of the House of Representatives (1990–)President of the Democratic Party of Japan (2004–05) Sponsors Yukio Hatoyama (25) Katsuya Okada (25) House of Representatives Hirotaka Akamatsu Akio Fukuda Kazuhiro Haraguchi Takashi Ishizeki Keiro Kitagami Tadamasa Kodaira Yasuko Komiyama Daizo Kusuda Jin Matsubara Hiroko Nakano Kazumi Ota Nobutaka Tsutsui Tsuyoshi YamaguchiHouse of Councillors Yukihisa Fujita Wakako Hironaka Tadashi Inuzuka Toshiyuki Kato Minoru Kawasaki Masao Kobayashi Kuniko Koda Hiroe Makiyama Shunichi Mizuoka Yukishige Okubo Kuniko Tanioka Emiko Uematsu House of Representatives Osamu Fujimura Yoshio Hachiro Hideo Hiraoka Ritsuo Hosokawa Tatsuo Kawabata Makiko Kikuta Daisuke Matsumoto Akira Nagatsuma Junya Ogawa Hiroshi Ogushi Kaname Tajima Miho TakaiHouse of Councillors Shinya Adachi Yuji Fujimoto Akira Gunji Emi Kaneko Masako Ōkawara Nobuo Matsuno Daigo Matsuura Masashi Mito Hiroyuki Nagahama Tomoji Nakatani Tomiko Okazaki Chiaki Takahashi Hisashi Tokunaga Contest On the day of Ozawa's resignation, the party executive met to discuss how the contest should be conducted. Akira Nagatsuma and deputy chairman Toshimi Kitazawa, along with Yoshihiko Noda, Jun Azumi, and Tetsuro Fukuyama, favoured expanding the election to include the party grassroots and approved candidates for the upcoming election. They were strongly rebuked by outgoing president Ozawa. Yoko Komiyama and Sumio Mabuchi also suggested holding the leadership election the following week, instead of on Saturday as proposed, in order to "listen to local voices." However, the executive voted to limit the vote to Diet members only and stick to the short timeframe. The Sankei Shimbun quoted internal party critics who accused Ozawa of manipulating the process to maintain control and ensure his favoured candidate, which was believed to be Hatoyama, was successful.http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/situation/090513/stt0905130105001-n1.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20090515013552/http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/situation/090513/stt0905130105001-n4.htm 15 May 2009 Democratic Party Leadership Election Looks Like a One-on-One Battle: Ozawa Openly "Pressures" 13 May 2009 ja Sankei Shimbunhttps://eastasiaforum.org/2009/05/14/the-ozawa-regime-and-the-future-of-the-dpj/ The 'Ozawa Regime' and the future of the DPJ Mulgan Aurelia George East Asia Forum Hatoyama and Okada both announced their candidacies on the 13th.http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6658092.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121013175808/http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6658092.html 13 October 2012 14 May 2009 Hatoyama, Okada flex muscles ahead of DPJ presidential election People's Daily Ozawa's faction and members associated with the former JSP and DSP were understood to be backing Hatoyama, while Okada was supported by the Maehara and Noda factions and part of Naoto Kan's faction.http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20090515-OYT1T01170.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20090517065840/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20090515-OYT1T01170.htm 17 May 2009 16 May 2009 Hatoyama receives over 40% support, Okada catches up... Democratic Party new leader to be elected Yomiuri Shimbun Polling by the Mainichi Shimbun indicated that Okada was preferred by voters by a margin of 25% to 13%, while a survey of lawmakers by The Nikkei found that almost half backed Hatoyama compared to 30% for Okada.https://www.reuters.com/article/world/japan-opposition-seeks-new-head-to-win-election-idUSTRE54D0OU/ Japan opposition seeks new head to win election Nishikawa Yoko Fujioka Chisa 14 May 2009 Reuters Hatoyama pledged unity and said he would appoint both Ozawa and Okada to key positions, while acknowledging that Ozawa must do more to explain his scandals to the public. Okada attracted some criticism for agreeing with Prime Minister Tarō Asō that a rise in the consumption tax may be necessary in the future, a stance opposed by Hatoyama and Ozawa. Results Candidate Votes % Yukio Hatoyama 124 56.6 Katsuya Okada 95 43.4 Total 219 100.00 Invalid 1 Turnout 220 99.5 Eligible 221 Source: DPJ Archive References Category:2009 elections in Japan Category:Democratic Party of Japan leadership elections Democratic Party (Japan, 1998) leadership election