Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) No. 2Ichiro Ozawa on Friday formally accepted an offer to lead the mainopposition party to succeed DPJ President Naoto Kan, who is quitting over his failure to pay national pension premiums.

Ozawa, the acting president of DPJ, will be officially selectedas the new president at a general assembly of DPJ's parliament members later Friday, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada said at a press conference.

A consensus has been reached in the country's largest opposition party that Ozawa should be the new president and that nobody is opposed, Okada said.

Ozawa, a former influential member of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, joined the opposition DPJ in 2003 when his Liberal Party merged with the DPJ.

The DPJ, which criticized the LDP when it was found that a third of Cabinet ministers had failed to pay pension premiums, suffered a severe blow when it was discovered that Kan and other senior DPJ members also failed to pay premiums.

Five DPJ lawmakers resigned as parliament panel chiefs Thursdayover the pension scandal and the party announced that 33 of its lawmakers failed to pay premiums in the past.

Source: Xinhua