[TinyRedLeaf]

Japan's next PM may be a woman

TOKYO (Sep 3, 08): Ms Yuriko Koike has emerged as a possible contender to be Japan's first female prime minister, with heavyweights in the ailing ruling party urging her to challenge conservative favourite Taro Aso.

Ms Koike, 56, a former television anchorman who has been a defence minister and environment minister, has stayed coy on whether she will contest a party vote on Sept 22 to replace outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

"I want to consider what we need in general, rather than my own individual situation," Ms Koike told reporters when asked if she would seek the top job. "I'm contacting various people since you can't play a baseball game all by yourself."

Ms Koike, an expert on the Middle East and fluent in both English and Arabic, is known for her close ties with reformist premier Junichiro Koizumi, who was popular during his 2001-2006 tenure. She belongs to the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction. Its head, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, hinted he supported a competitive race.

He likened Ms Koike to the failed United States Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, saying she would energise Japanese women voters. "All of us share the view that it's desirable for the LDP, which has been driven to the edge of a cliff in a sense, to hold an active, fair election to elect its president," said Mr Machimura.

But the Asahi Shimbun reported that 23 of the LDP's 47 prefectural chapters have already made up their minds to back Mr Aso, a former foreign minister.

Japan has one of the developed world's lowest rates of female representation among politicians and corporate executives. Only 89, or 12 per cent, of the 722 members of parliament are women.

- AFP