New prime minister elected

On 4 June 2010 the lower house of Parliament elected Finance Minister Naoto Kan as the country's new prime minister; Kan was the candidate of the governing Democratic Party. After being formally appointed by the Japanese emperor, Kan will succeed Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned on 2 June over broken campaign pledges related to a U.S. military base on the island of Okinawa. No drastic policy changes are likely under the new prime minister.