Voter frustration led to DPJ`s landslide victory: Hatoyama

TOKYO, Aug. 31 Kyodo -
Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama said voter frustration with
the current administration has led to a projected change of government, as he
effectively declared victory in Sunday's House of Representatives election.
On the diplomatic front, Hatoyama, who is expected to become the next Japanese
prime minister in the incoming DPJ-led administration, stressed the importance
of seeking a resolution of various problems through ''dialogue and
cooperation,'' although he did not elaborate.
Hatoyama made the remarks after his party appeared certain to wrest power from
the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party by winning an overwhelming majority of
the 480 seats in the powerful lower house.
''The people have strong feelings of anger toward the current
administration...Their feelings are about to bear fruit,'' Hatoyama said at
press conference in Tokyo.
At a later press conference past midnight, Hatoyama appeared to urge restraint
on the part of his overjoyed party members, although he admitted that the
victory was ''far bigger than our expectations.''
''We will not be arrogant about the number (of seats we have gained)...What is
important is the ordinary people's viewpoint,'' he also said, adding that the
DPJ will cooperate with the LDP in the transition to the new government.
Asked about relations with Russia, Hatoyama expressed his eagerness to seek a
resolution of a decades-old territorial row, indicating the potential of
Japan-Russia relations cannot be fulfilled until the bilateral problem is
overcome and such a situation is against the two countries' interests.
Hatoyama is the grandson of former Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama who signed
the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration that led the two countries to resume
diplomatic relations.
In contrast to the gloomy mood among members of the LDP, which faces a
devastating loss, the Tokyo building where the DPJ set up what it calls a vote
tallying center was full of the sound of clapping and cheering.
The center had hundreds of seats prepared for the media, including a number of
foreign journalists who are also paying close attention to the historic
election.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk, a correspondent for a German economic newspaper, said Japan
needs a ''new starting point'' and expressed expectations that a political
change could also bring positive changes to other areas of Japanese society.
Hatoyama, his predecessor Ichiro Ozawa and other senior DPJ officials arrived
at the building looking relieved, as media projected a DPJ victory shortly
after voting ended at 8 p.m.
Yoshihiko Noda, the DPJ's acting secretary general, said the DPJ is ''feeling
the responsibility fully'' of its projected victory and is eager to realize its
pledges.
''We've worked hard for our long-cherished desire to seek a change of
government...Feeling the responsibility fully, we want to realize what we've
promised to do in our manifesto,'' Noda said.
In its manifesto, the DPJ promised cash handouts for families with children,
free public high school tuition and a phasing out of highway tolls among
measures to improve household incomes to stimulate the economy.
Such policies, which would require 16.8 trillion yen in fiscal 2013, will be
financed by cutting wasteful public spending among other means, the DPJ has
said, but the party has been criticized for lacking specifics about sources of
funding.
In an apparent effort to allay such concerns, Hatoyama stressed in a television
program that the DPJ will spend the next four years, the duration of the term
for new lower house lawmakers, ''to first eliminate wasteful spending.''
The planned termination of wasteful spending will be enough to finance the
policies, he suggested.
==Kyodo