Japan lawmaker Tarutoko to run for DPJ head -media

(For more stories on Japanese politics click [ID:nPOLJP])

TOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - Japanese ruling party lawmaker Shinji Tarutoko is likely to run for the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned, Kyodo news agency quoted a senior party official as saying on Thursday.

The next Democratic Party leader will be the new prime minister by virtue of the party's majority in parliament's powerful lower house.

Tarutoko, 50, now heads the lower house environment committee and is known as one of seven members of a group led by party elder Kozo Watanabe that has distanced itself from party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa. But he is also reported to be close to pro-Ozawa lawmakers. (Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa)