69% of Japanese polled prefer Kan to Ozawa as DPJ leader
PTI | 04:08 PM,Aug 29,2010Tokyo, Aug 29 (Kyodo) A majority of Japanese people polled want Prime Minister Naoto Kan to stay on as leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, far surpassing those who support party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, according to a survey. The telephone survey conducted on Friday and yesterday showed 69.9 per cent of those surveyed backing Kan in the September 14 DPJ leadership election, compared with 15.6 per cent for Ozawa. Among DPJ-supporting respondents, 82 per cent of Kyodo news survey said they want Kan to remain as leader -- a finding that may well affect voting by eligible DPJ legislators, regional assembly members and rank-and-file supporters of the party. Public support for Kan's Cabinet came to 48.1 per cent, up 9.4 percentage points from the preceding survey early this month, while the disapproval rate was 36.2 per cent, down 8.6 points for the first improvement since the July 11 upper house election. The survey found that topping the list of reasons for the support for Kan's Cabinet was the lack of suitable alternatives for the premier's post, at 48.4 per cent. The main reason cited for disapproval was low expectations of its economic policies. Kan, who became DPJ leader and premier only about three months ago, is to hold a press conference Tuesday evening to formally announce his candidacy, party members close to him said. Official campaigning for the election will kick off Wednesday. Ozawa, who held the party's No. 2 post of secretary general until June, announced his candidacy for the DPJ leadership Thursday. He heads the DPJ's largest group but Kan expressed his confidence Friday in gaining the upper hand. Asked about a possible change in the premiership depending on the outcome of the DPJ leadership race, 56.1 per cent of those surveyed said they think a general election should be held against 39.1 per cent who wanted no such procedure. (Kyodo) PRY
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