Japan's victorious Democrats start forming government - Yahoo! News

Description

Japan's Democratic Party began talks on Monday on forming a new government, faced with the challenge of reviving the economy and reshaping ties with key allies after its crushing election win.

Yukio Hatoyama's centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPK) is under heavy pressure to get to work quickly on addressing the huge hurdles facing the country and pulling it out of its long economic malaise.

His team huddled to select cabinet ministers and work on the transition from the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso, who conceded defeat and said he would step down as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Japan's usually risk-averse electorate, frustrated with the country's worst post-war recession, punished Aso at the polls and forced the business-friendly LDP from office for only the second time since 1955.

Original URL

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090831/wl_asia_afp/japanvote

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090831/wl_asia_afp/japanvote