Child Allowance Among 5 Pledges In DPJ Election Manifesto

TOKYO (NQN)--The Democratic Party of Japan has made five promises, including abolishing the "provisional" surtax on gasoline, in the manifesto it has prepared for the upcoming lower house elections scheduled for Aug. 30.

DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama formally unveiled the document at a news conference here Monday afternoon.

The main opposition party also pledged to provide families a monthly allowance of 26,000 yen per child until they graduate from junior high school, typically at age 15.

The manifesto also carried a timetable from fiscal 2010 to 2013 specifying the sequence of steps to be taken to carry out the DPJ's major policy initiatives. It estimated the cost of executing the measures in fiscal 2013 at 16.8 trillion yen, for example, and also explained how to finance the measures.

The document also said that if the DPJ comes into power, its government will be staffed by more than 100 of its lawmakers, enabling the prime minister to take the initiative in policymaking.