The ruling party of Japan was to elect the man who will become the country's sixth new prime minister in five years on Monday, but no candidate was expected to land a knock-out blow in the first round.

The contest, a bitter fight within the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), comes amid public disenchantment over the government's response to the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster and nuclear accident.

The outgoing premier, Naoto Kan, on Friday confirmed his resignation after 15 turbulent months in office, after his approval rating had plummeted from a high of 65 percent to just 15 percent, according to media polls.

Five candidates, all men, spent the weekend jockeying for support among the 398 DPJ lawmakers who will choose the new party president, to be confirmed as the new prime minister by parliament on Tuesday.

The DPJ started its meeting at 11:00am (0200 GMT). The five contenders were giving brief speeches ahead of voting which, in the absence of a clear favourite, was expected to go into a second round the same day.

The party will choose the party's third leader since it swept to power in a landslide two years ago, but voter enthusiasm for the DPJ has fallen away because of scandals, infighting and its management of the March disaster.

Among the candidates, former foreign minister Seiji Maehara was until last week seen as the front-runner and the people's choice, tipped by pundits to beat his closest rival, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 54.

However, the game changed when scandal-tainted but powerful faction boss Ichiro Ozawa announced he would throw his support behind Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda, making him the new man to beat.

Kaieda told the party conference: "I'm resolutely determined to stake my life on overcoming the national crisis... There are tasks that no one but I can handle. I want to carry them out in the nation's highest office."

The DPJ is split between supporters and enemies of Ozawa, dubbed Japan's "Shadow Shogun", who commands the loyalty of about 130 lawmakers, many of whom he coached in electioneering and helped get elected.

Ozawa, a defector from the conservative Liberal Democrats, is considered a kingmaker even though he lost a contest against Kan last year and was stripped of his party membership after being indicted over a funding scandal.

Kaieda, 62, has been a key figure handling the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the world's worst since Chernobyl 25 years ago, which forced the evacuation of 80,000 people and ultimately cost Kan his job.

Contaminated food, some of which ended up in shops and restaurants, has heightened public fears about the radiation seeping from reactors that suffered meltdowns and explosions after the huge quake.

Kaieda, who has been at odds with Kan's anti-nuclear stance, has proposed that Japan restart stalled nuclear plants once they are confirmed safe.

Under the strain of handling the Fukushima emergency, Kaieda, formerly a popular media pundit on economic issues, recently broke down in tears after a barrage of hostile questioning by opposition lawmakers.

Kaieda has suggested he would reinstate Ozawa's DPJ membership if elected.

Maehara, who at 49 would be Japan's youngest post-war premier, has backed Kan's proposal for a nuclear phase-out. The Kyoto native is a security expert who has taken a hard line on China in ongoing territorial spats.

Maehara resigned five months ago as foreign minister for taking donations from a family friend who is an ethnic Korean, in contravention of political funding laws, a fact the opposition is likely to seize upon again.

Noda, as finance minister, has led mixed efforts to revitalise an economy plagued by decades of deflation and struggled to bring down huge public debt and a strong yen that is hurting exporters and a fragile post-quake rebound.

The other candidates are the farm minister, Michihiko Kano, 69, and former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi, 51.

Candidates to become Japan's new PM
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 29, 2011 - Japan's centre-left ruling party will elect a new leader Monday from a field of five candidates to replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who announced his resignation last week. Here is a list of the five contenders from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ):

Banri Kaieda, 62:

Kaieda, the economy, trade and industry minister, has emerged as the front-runner since winning the support of controversial DPJ faction boss Ichiro Ozawa, who commands the loyalty of some 130 lawmakers.

Kaieda, a one-time media pundit on economics, has been a key figure dealing with the Fukushima nuclear crisis sparked by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

As head of the ministry that promotes atomic power, he urged the restart of shut-down reactors, putting him at odds with the outgoing premier. Kan has advocated a shift away from nuclear power in coming decades.

Kaieda endured ridicule after breaking down in tears last month amid a sustained barrage of criticism from hostile opposition lawmakers.

In foreign policy, Kaieda is seen as pro-China, a country he has often visited. Kaieda, whose first name Banri means "Great Wall", has said that he does not see Chinas growing military might as a threat.

Kaieda has advocated freer trade but recently eased off that position, which is unpopular with Japan's powerful and highly protected farm lobby.

He first won public office in 1993 and joined hands with Kan in 1996 to become a founding member of the DPJ, which merged with another party in 1998 to become the current ruling party.

A year after the DPJ took power, he was appointed fiscal policy minister in a cabinet reshuffle last September, and took his current post in January.

His hobbies include baseball, kendo stick fighting, and "kanshi" poetry written in Chinese characters.

Seiji Maehara, 49:

The former foreign minister is the public's favourite to become prime minister, according to media polls, and was seen as the man to beat before powerbroker Ozawa threw his support behind Kaieda last week.

At age 49, he would be Japan's youngest post-war premier.

From the DPJ's conservative wing, he is a defence policy expert and backer of the US security alliance, a free-trade advocate, and a hawk on relations with China and North Korea.

Last year, as foreign minister, he rose to prominence with his resolute stand against Beijing in a bitter row over a disputed island chain. At one stage he labelled China's response "hysterical".

Maehara supports the goal of Japan phasing out nuclear power.

Long seen as having prime ministerial potential, he is a self-made lawmaker in a political world dominated by the offspring of former politicians. He led the party from 2005 to 2006.

A graduate of Kyoto University, Maehara attended the private Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which uses tough workouts and meditation in its programme to forge modern political leaders.

Maehara quit the Kan cabinet in March after admitting to receiving around $3,000 in donations from an ethnic Korean restaurant owner, a family friend since his childhood, in contravention of Japanese law.

In the period since then, while the Kan government has come under heavy fire for its fumbling response to the tsunami-nuclear disaster, Maehara has kept a relatively low profile and avoided association with the response.

In his spare time, Maehara likes to photograph trains.

Yoshihiko Noda, 54:

The current finance minister, a fiscal hawk, is known more as a safe pair of hands than a bold visionary, and in a recent essay praised the virtues of "middle-of-the-road" leadership.

Known for bland statements designed not to rock financial markets, Noda is seen unlikely to drive radical policy shifts if he becomes prime minister, but would likely seek to maintain nuclear power, unlike Kan.

He angered Japan's neighbours, including South Korea, when he said this month, on the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, that Class-A war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal were in fact not war criminals.

As finance minister, Noda has overseen efforts to halt the slide of the world's number three economy into recession after the March 11 disasters.

He has also waded into currency markets to tackle the strength of the yen, which has risen to post-war highs as a safe-haven currency amid global economic uncertainties, hurting Japan's export sector.

He supports tax hikes to pay for quake reconstruction and to fix the fast-ageing nation's finances. The state's public debt stands at twice the size of the $5 trillion economy, the highest ratio in the industrialised world.

Like Maehara, he is a a graduate of the Matsushita leadership course.

Noda holds a blackbelt in judo. He is said to enjoy sake, and has spoken out against raising taxes on beer or tobacco, saying this would be "the same as bullying salarymen".

Michihiko Kano, 69:

Kano has been agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister since Kan reshuffled his cabinet in September last year.

The veteran politician held the same post more than two decades ago as a member of the then-ruling, conservative Liberal Democratic Party, from which he defected in 1994.

Kano has pushed for unity of the strife-prone DPJ but is not among the favourites to become prime minister.

Sumio Mabuchi, 51:

Mabuchi, a former engineer working for a construction company, was infrastructure and transport minister when Japan was embroiled last year in its bitter territorial island row with China.

The father-of-six, whose hobbies include body-building, has been nicknamed "The Terminator" for his physique and "Lone Gorilla" in reference to the fact that he belongs to no intra-party faction.

He is against raising taxes but argues the government should review social security payouts.

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