WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-07 10:07

TOKYO: Top executives of Japan's new ruling party were expected to sign off on their leader's choices for key cabinet posts on Monday, a week after the Democratic Party's landslide victory in a national election.

Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama, who will take office on September 16, said he had picked Naoto Kan, a 62-year-old former health minister, to head a powerful new agency that will oversee the budget process and set policy priorities.

 Special coverage:
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks Japan General Election 2009

Related readings:
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks Japan election campaign kicks off for historic change
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks 
Japan PM-elect's pick of powerful ally raises worry
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks 
DPJ chief Hatoyama, the 'alien' promoting fraternal society
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks Ex-minister forms new party ahead of Japan's election
Japan's Democrats to sign off on key cabinet picks Japan election: Keeping the politics all in the family

Hatoyama also said Katsuya Okada, 56, had been chosen to be foreign minister, a post being closely watched in Washington because of concerns about the US-Japan alliance after his party has vowed a more independent diplomatic course.

The huge election win by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and breaks a deadlock in parliament, ushering in a government that has promised to focus spending on consumers, cut waste and reduce the power of bureaucrats.

But some analysts worry that the Democrats' spending plans could inflate a public debt already about 170 percent of GDP, the highest among advanced countries.

Japanese media have reported that Hirohisa Fujii, 77, a former finance minister, would probably be chosen to hold the same key post in Hatoyama's cabinet.

But it was unclear whether the choice would be finalised before Hatoyama cements a proposed coalition with tiny parties whose cooperation is needed to control parliament's upper house.