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Wall Street JournalTOKYO (Dow Jones)--Veteran Japanese politician Katsuya Okada Wednesday announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Democratic Party of Japan, the country's largest opposition party.
The presidential election will be held Saturday, following the announcement Monday of the resignation of the current president Ichiro Ozawa, whose first secretary was indicted on suspicion of violating the political fund control law.
Okada, 55, is a six-term Lower House member and formerly an elite bureaucrat at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. He served as president of the DPJ from May 2004 to September 2005, when he stepped down from the post to take responsibility for the party's landslide defeat in the general election.
Okada has a reputation for having high ethical standards, and that's helped him garner support mainly from DPJ members who have been distancing themselves from Ozawa.
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