Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday to leave office at an early date and vowed to reject ruling bloc-sponsored bills in a bid to pressure him into dissolving the Lower House and calling a general election.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070901a5a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='168'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa –

attends an executive meeting at DPJ headquarters Friday in Tokyo with Naoto Kan (left) and Yukio Hatoyama. KYODO PHOTO

"We'll effectively utilize the majority we have (in the Upper House)," Ozawa told reporters, showing his readiness to possibly vote down bills backed by Abe's ruling bloc in the Upper House during the extraordinary Diet session starting Sept. 10.

"Since the ruling parties lost their majority in the upper chamber, the very person who should be reshuffled is the prime minister," Ozawa said in reference to Abe's Aug. 27 Cabinet reshuffle due to the coalition's election loss.

Ozawa also indicated his party will speed up preparations for a general election.

Earlier in the day, Ozawa appointed former party heads Katsuya Okada and Seiji Maehara as vice presidents Friday in a shakeup of the party leadership aimed at stepping up the rivalry with Abe.

Ozawa also named senior DPJ lawmaker Masayuki Naoshima as chief of the policy research council, or chief policymaker, and Kenji Yamaoka as chief of the Diet affairs committee, or top parliamentary negotiator, while retaining acting President Naoto Kan and Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama.