Yosuo Fukuda japans? new prime minister appointed

Sep 25: Despite the opposition in upper house of Japanese parliament of Yasuo being elected as Prime Minister, the lower house elected Yasuo Fukuda as new Prime Minister on Tuesday replacing Shinzo Abe who had to resign due to the scandals in his reign leaving country in political shock.

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Yasuo captured 338 votes in the lower house while only 238 votes are needed against 117 votes captured by his competitor and main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa. Still his appointment as Prime Minister was not accepted by the upper house. This hardly makes any difference to the appointment of Yasuo Fukuda as according to the constitution of Japan the decision of the lower house prevails.

The competitor of the oldest Prime Minister of Japan since 1990, Ichiro Ozawa was easily defeated by him. Though he took a lead in the upper house gaining 133 votes in comparison to 104 votes bagged by the new Prime Minister but in vain. The majority of the opposition party may lay a tough road for Fukuda as this will provide obstacles in enacting legislations.

With the entry of Fukuda, Mr. Abe formally submitted his resignation along with his cabinet.

Lower house speaker Yohei Kono announced, at Diet “We have decided to appoint Mr. Yasuo Fukuda as the Prime Minister”.

Matter is still to be considered by the joint committee but the decision of the lower house will prevail.

Yasuo is the son of former Prime Minister Takeo who also was appointed PM at the age of 71.