In a bold and surprising bid to ward off a party rebellion, Prime Minister Junichio Koizumi on Sunday appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe as the No. 2 man in his Liberal Democratic Party.
Abe's appointment as secretary general, one of the top positions in the LDP, came fresh off Koizumi's re-election Saturday as party president.
In another move at the top, LDP Deputy Secretary General Fukushiro Nukaga was appointed chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council.