TOKYO-Junichiro Koizumi was elected prime minister of Japan Thursday, capping a stunning sweep to power on public disgust with his predecessor’s scandals, gaffes and failure to pull the nation out of its deep economic doldrums.
A media-savvy but relatively untested politician whose highest post until now had been health minister, Koizumi swept to power on impassioned promises to reform the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party and pull Japan out of its decade-long economic slump.
Koizumi’s pleas for change clearly won a popular mandate.
Koizumi, Japan’s ninth premier in just 10 years, swept virtually all of the primaries among the party’s rank-and-file, where a strong sense of crisis has been building. Many in the party fear the sour economy and voter disgust with Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori could translate into a big loss in Parliament elections in July.
