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The June 2010Democratic Party of Japan leadership election was held on 4 June 2010. The election was held to replace outgoing president andPrime MinisterYukio Hatoyama, who resigned on 2 June amid plunging approval ratings and his failure to relocate theFutenma military base.[1]
Finance minister and deputy prime ministerNaoto Kan was elected president, defeating backbencherShinji Tarutoko by 291 votes to 129.[2][3] He was elected Prime Minister by the Diet and formally appointed byEmperor Akihito on 8 June.
The Democratic Party won the August2009 Japanese general election in a landslide, ushering in the first non-Liberal Democratic-led government since 1994 and marking the first time a party other than the LDP won a parliamentary majority since 1952. Yukio Hatoyama became Prime Minister, and initially recorded approval ratings of over 70%. However, early struggles and scandals implicating Hatoyama and DPJ secretary-generalIchirō Ozawa caused the cabinet's approval to decline to 50% by the new year. The government continued to struggle to reduce thebudget deficit and implement their policy pledges. Throughout his tenure, Hatoyama also attempted to negotiate with theUnited States torelocate the Futenma military base outside of Okinawa, but failed to make progress. He admitted defeat at the end of May, prompting the pacifistSocial Democratic Party to withdraw from the governing coalition, damaging the government's legislative position. By this time, Hatoyama's approval rating had fallen to around 20% with disapproval approaching 70%. These factors, combined with the upcomingupper house elections, prompted him to announce his resignation. Ozawa simultaneously resigned as DPJ secretary-general.[4][5][6][7]
Finance minister Naoto Kan was understood to be the frontrunner. He secured the backing of most of the party's factions on both left and right, including speculative rivals foreign ministerKatsuya Okada and infrastructure and transport ministerSeiji Maehara, who endorsed him.[4] The only other candidate to stand wasShinji Tarutoko, chairman of the Diet environment committee, who campaigned on "generational change" and was supported by parts of Ichirō Ozawa's faction.[8][9][10]
| Candidate | Offices held | ||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | Naoto Kan (age 63)  Tokyo | Member of theHouse of Representatives (1980–) President of the Democratic Party of Japan (1996–99, 2002–04) Minister of Finance (2010–) Deputy Prime Minister of Japan (2009–) | |
 | Shinji Tarutoko (age 49)  Osaka Prefecture | Member of theHouse of Representatives (1993–2005, 2009–) | |
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naoto Kan | 291 | 69.3 | |
| Shinji Tarutoko | 129 | 30.7 | |
| Total | 420 | 100.00 | |
| Invalid | 2 | ||
| Turnout | 422 | 99.8 | |
| Eligible | 423 | ||
| Source:DPJ Archive | |||