In order to ride out the hung Diet, Kan will have to reconstruct party unity by replacing at least the incumbent anti-Ozawa party chief or Chief Cabinet Secretary, and, possibly, by appointing a pro-Ozawa Justice Minister – i.e., someone who can block Ozawa’s prosecution in the financing scandal. Appeasing Ozawa, however, is contrary to public sentiment and detrimental to the DPJ’s hopes of regaining popular support.
另一方面，小泽一郎参选使得民主党分裂倾向高于以往。为赢得议会多数，菅直人必须实现党内团结。为此他需要至少撤掉反对小泽的现任政党领袖或是内阁官房长官，而且可能需要任命一位有利于小泽的司法部长以阻止小泽因丑闻受审。但是，向小泽示好会招致民众不满，不利于民主党重新赢得民心。