TOKYO, July 26 – Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will be suspended as member of the country’s main opposition party, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for three months for supporting an independent candidate during the upper house election on July 21.
DPJ made the decision following a proposal by party chief Banri Kaieda at its executive board meeting on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Kaieda had earlier proposed for Kan to be expelled from the party.
Kan is at odds with his party for supporting single-term upper house lawmaker Masako Okawara in spite of not having DPJ’s backing for his endorsement two days before election campaigns kicked off.
The former prime minister had said Okawara’s ideology was “more in line with the party’s stance to seek a nuclear phase-out by 2030s.”
Kan is a a staunch anti-nuclear advocate after the earthquake-triggered nuclear disaster while he was prime minister two years ago.
The DPJ suffered a dismal defeat in the upper house election after securing only 17 seats — its lowest achievement since the party was formed in 1998.
– BERNAMA
