Yukio Hatoyama, who led his opposition party to a landslide win in Japan's weekend elections Monday promised to build consensus and avoid "arrogance" in pursuing his party's political programme.
Media projections show that Hatoyama's centre-left Democratic Party of Japan won 308 seats in the powerful 480-member lower house of parliament in the Sunday poll, ending more than 50 years of almost unbroken conservative rule.
"It is an incredible number," Hatoyama told a live televised interview with public broadcaster NHK.
"We will not just bulldoze our policies.
"We must exercise patience and seek people's understanding because we are given such latitude," said Hatoyama, who is expected to replace Prime Minister Taro Aso by mid-September.
"We must shed ourselves of arrogance that might come from such a number," said the 62-year-old US-trained engineering scholar.
Hatoyama is set to lead Japan as the world's number two economy emerges from its worst recession in recent decades.
Hatoyama campaigned on a promise of change and people-centred politics against the business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), headed by Aso.
Aso told reporters Sunday night that he would step down as LDP president to take responsibility for the huge defeat.
In the NHK interview, Hatoyama also confirmed he would form a coalition with smaller partners such as the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party, despite policy differences on security and other issues.
The LDP was ousted from government for 10 months in the early 1990s, as smaller parties formed a fragile coalition to take power. But even then, the LDP, as a single party, held the most seats in the parliament.
由鳩山由紀(jì)夫領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的日本反對(duì)黨(民主黨)在上周末的眾議院選舉中獲得壓倒性勝利。鳩山由紀(jì)夫于本周一承諾在推動(dòng)黨政綱領(lǐng)的同時(shí)建立共識(shí)、避免“自大”。
據(jù)媒體調(diào)查顯示,在上周日的大選中,鳩山由紀(jì)夫所領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的日本左翼黨民主黨在擁有480個(gè)席位的眾議院中豪取308席,結(jié)束了(自民黨)長達(dá)50多年的堅(jiān)不可摧的保守統(tǒng)治。
鳩山由紀(jì)夫在接受日本NHK公共廣播電視臺(tái)的直播采訪時(shí)說:“這的確是個(gè)讓人難以置信的數(shù)字。我們(上任后)不會(huì)強(qiáng)制推行我們的政策。”
他說:“我們必須付出耐心,尋求人們的理解,因?yàn)槲覀儽毁x予了這么大的自由和空間。” 鳩山由紀(jì)夫?qū)⒂?月中旬接替麻生太郎,出任日本下任首相。
他說:“我們不能因?yàn)榈玫降倪x票多就出現(xiàn)自大情緒”?,F(xiàn)年62歲的鳩山由紀(jì)夫曾在美國留學(xué),是一名工程學(xué)學(xué)者。
鳩山由紀(jì)夫?qū)ьI(lǐng)身為世界第二大經(jīng)濟(jì)體的日本走出近幾十年來最嚴(yán)重的經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退。
在競選期間,鳩山由紀(jì)夫承諾將進(jìn)行變革,并創(chuàng)造以人為本的政治環(huán)境,以此與麻生太郎領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的強(qiáng)調(diào)經(jīng)濟(jì)政策的自民黨競爭。
麻生太郎在上周日晚接受記者采訪時(shí)稱,他將辭去日本自民黨總裁職務(wù),為該黨的失利負(fù)責(zé)。
鳩山由紀(jì)夫在接受NHK電視臺(tái)采訪時(shí)還證實(shí),他將與社民黨和國民新黨等規(guī)模較小的政黨聯(lián)合執(zhí)政,盡管他們?cè)诎踩捌渌h題的政策上存在分歧。
日本自民黨曾于上世紀(jì)90年代初被趕下臺(tái)長達(dá)10個(gè)月之久,當(dāng)時(shí)幾個(gè)小規(guī)模政黨組成了一個(gè)并不牢固的聯(lián)合政權(quán)。但即便在當(dāng)時(shí),作為單一政黨的自民黨在議會(huì)中也占有多數(shù)席位。