Dutch journalist Hans van der Lugt elected FCCJ...

TOKYO, June 21 Kyodo

Hans van der Lugt, a Tokyo correspondent of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, beat Pat Killen, a longtime foreign correspondent of the United Press International and Market News Service, to become president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ), official election results showed Friday.

Van der Lugt collected 87 votes, compared with 72 for Killen, now a freelance journalist based in Tokyo. Van der Lugt, currently a second vice president of the press club, will succeed Kazuo Abiko of the Associated Press for a one-year term.

Jonathan Watts of the British Guardian and Observer newspapers was reelected first vice president after trouncing freelance journalist Sandra Mori by a vote of 112-46.

Pio d'Emilia of the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto was elected second vice president, while Suvendrini Kakuchi of Inter Press Service won the post of secretary, the results showed.

Georges Baumgartner of Swiss Radio and Television was reelected as treasurer.

Catherine Makino of the San Francisco Chronicle, Richard Hanson of the Asia Times, Chester Dawson of Business Week and Haruko Watanabe of Media Report to Women were elected directors at large, the FCCJ said.