New Komeito to launch new leadership under Yamaguchi Tues.

TOKYO, Sept. 7 Kyodo -
The new leadership of the New Komeito party, which formed the ruling bloc with
the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party, will be formally launched Tuesday
under Natsuo Yamaguchi, a House of Councillors lawmaker, after the party's
standing directors decided at a meeting Monday to name him as new party chief.
The appointment of Yamaguchi, 57, who currently serves as chairman of the
party's Policy Research Council, follows the party's heavy defeat in the
general election late last month and the unseating of incumbent leader Akihiro
Ota, 63, in his Tokyo constituency.
Yamaguchi's appointment will be formally approved at the party's national
conference on Tuesday.
''Once I gain endorsement (at the conference), I want to do my best to rebuild
the party by giving everything to efforts for the sake of the people,''
Yamaguchi told reporters, pledging to lead his party to a victory in the House
of Councillors election next summer.
Yoshihisa Inoue, 62, director of the party's Electoral Policy Committee, will
be named as the new secretary general to replace Kazuo Kitagawa, 56, while
Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito, 57, will succeed Yamaguchi as the new policy
chief, according to party officials.
Yoshio Urushibara, 64, will remain as chairman of the Diet Policy Committee,
the officials said, adding that the lawmakers will be given their new
portfolios after Yamaguchi is endorsed on Tuesday.
Announcing the party executives' decision to recommend Yamaguchi to the
national conference, outgoing Secretary General Kitagawa told a news conference
that Yamaguchi will present a fresh image as head of the party as it works on
its revival and can get his message across because he is well-versed in
policies.
Yamaguchi said his party must first review its defeat in the House of
Representatives election, in which it lost 10 of the 31 seats it held prior to
the election, before deciding on how it should go about legislative tasks as an
opposition party in the upcoming Diet sessions.
''What is necessary right now is to establish the party's self-direction and a
foundation for its rebuilding,'' Yamaguchi told reporters. ''I want to make
careful considerations inside the party (before making other decisions).''
Ota announced his resignation after the lower house election on Aug. 30 to take
responsibility for the party's defeat. Like Ota, Kitagawa was unseated in the
election, in which the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the ruling LDP-New
Komeito bloc from power.
==Kyodo