• He defeated former CDP chief Yukio Edano 232 points to 180 points in a runoff.

TOKYO: Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was elected new leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Monday, setting the stage for redoubling efforts to have the main opposition party seize power from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc.

He defeated former CDP chief Yukio Edano 232 points to 180 points in a runoff.

Noda, 67, said in an address later that he plans to draw up an outline of members of the party’s new leadership team Tuesday. His term of office as CDP chief will run until the end of September 2027.

In 2011, Noda became the third prime minister under the administration led by the former Democratic Party of Japan, a predecessor of the CDP.

But he created a split in the party by pushing a consumption tax hike, which had not been included in his campaign pledges. This resulted in the DPJ suffering a huge setback in the 2012 election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, and the LDP and its ally, Komeito, taking the reins of government again.

Noda aims to recapture power from the ruling pair in the next Lower House election, which may possibly be held shortly after the LDP’s leadership election set for Friday.

At a press conference after the CDP election, Noda said, “We will drive the LDP and Komeito to lose their Lower House majority (in the next general election) while trying to help opposition parties win as many seats as possible together.”

Regarding the appointments of new CDP executives, he said, “How to create a sense of innovation that I don’t have is important.”

The runoff in the CDP leadership election took place after none of the four candidates–Noda, Edano, 60, previous party leader Kenta Izumi, 50, and Lower House lawmaker Harumi Yoshida, 52–won a majority in the first round of vote.

In the first balloting, Noda collected 267 points, and Edano obtained 206 points. Meanwhile, 143 points went to Izumi, and 122 points to Yoshida.

The CDP election to select Izumi’s successor took place in an extraordinary party convention in Tokyo.

JIJI Press