Asia Times: Voters opt for business-as-usual


	June 27, 2000	atimes.com

Japan

Voters opt for business-as-usual
By Jonathan Watts

TOKYO - Japanese voters opted for business as usual in Sunday's general election, keeping a coalition led by unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in power, albeit with a sharply reduced majority.

With all the votes counted, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) - which has ruled for all but two of the past 45 years - had secured 233 of the 480 seats in the Lower House. This is well short of the 271 it held prior to the poll and means the LDP lost its single-party, two-thirds majority in the House.

However, counting the seats won by the LDP's two allies, the LDP-led three-party coalition took a total of 271 seats, giving it majority of Lower House seats. That would give the coalition control of 56 percent of the chamber, down from the 65 percent before the vote.

In a sign of change in the world's second largest economy, women candidates notched up a record 34 seats. Although this is still only 7 percent of the total, it represents a sharp improvement on the last Parliament where there were only 23 female MPs.

Strong gains by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan and a low turnout will ensure that the heat remains on Mori, whose tendency to put his foot in his mouth has pushed his approval rating as low as 12 percent and led some LDP leaders to plot his replacement.

Reports Monday said the Democratic Party gained 32 seats to land 127 of them in the lower house.

Cracks are also likely to show in the coalition. The LDP's two partners suffered electoral setbacks that call into question the political wisdom of their remaining in government. The New Komeito, which is backed by the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist group, lost a quarter of its 42 seats and the number of New Conservative Party MPs slumped from 20 to single figures.

A tense-looking Mori said it was too early to make a judgment on whether he should stand down, although the victory will probably ensure that he can hang on at least until next month's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa. ''If there is criticism from within the party about this result, I will accept that and make a final decision about my future,'' he said.

Despite opinion polls last week suggesting a comfortable margin of victory, the LDP only just reached the 229-vote make-or-break target it had set itself. Hiromu Nonaka, the chief cabinet secretary and Mori's right hand man, had promised to step down if the party failed to reach this figure.

The reaction of Japanese newspapers suggests that pressure will remain on Mori. The mass-circulation Yomiuri daily's headline Monday was ''Coalition Retreats. Democrats Leap''. The Asahi Shimbun, a fierce critic of the Mori administration, commented in an editorial that the result was a major defeat for LDP. ''The election results demonstrate the public's hope for a change rather than approval of the administration,'' it said.

The rugby-playing prime minister has looked ill at ease since he took over soon after former prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a fatal stroke on April 2. Gaffe has followed gaffe, giving the impression that he is a right-wing and undiplomatic leader.

Mori stirred up a storm by declaring that ''Japan is a divine nation with the emperor at its core'' - a comment that critics said harked back to the emperor-worshipping Shinto creed of the pre-war military regime. During the election campaign, he has also undermined his democratic credentials by suggesting that floating voters - estimated to be about half the electorate - should stay in bed on polling day.

These verbal slips have dominated coverage of the campaign, although the most important issue facing Japan is the economy.

The government confirmed this month that Japan has finally emerged from one of its worst downturns since the Pacific War, after ekeing out a growth rate of 0.5 percent in the last fiscal year. This is good news for Japan's trading partners, especially in Asia, but the main parties were at odds over whether to sustain growth or trim the country's huge public debt.

Mori has pledged to keep injecting government cash into the economy until the growth rate climbs to more than 2 percent, which is not expected for at least one year. The government has already spent trillions of yen on public works projects in rural areas, ensuring votes yesterday from the LDP's two main backers: the construction industry and farmers.

In a high-risk strategy, the opposition Democrats pledged to raise taxes and cut spending. It won 127 seats, a solid improvement on its pre-election strength of 95. ''We have won the trust of voters because we were honest in our campaign. We are prescribing bitter medicine, not sweet talk,'' said DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama.

Only 63 percent of the country's 101 million eligible voters bothered to go to the polls, the second lowest turnout ever after the last general election in 1996. This apathy reflected the inclement weather - most voters had to brave rainy season downpours - and a lack of belief in national politics.

''I didn't bother voting today,'' said Takeshi Namera, a computer programmer. ''Rather than go to the polling booth, it seemed more worthwhile to spend the time playing games at a friends' house.''

Those who did go to the polls voted for stability after four years that have seen three prime ministers, five LDP-led coalitions and record levels of unemployment, bankruptcy and suicides that reflect dissatisfaction with the economy. ''It is all very well criticizing the LDP,'' said Michiko Watanabe, a 22-year-old student who voted for the ruling party. ''But they are unfortunately the best we've got.''

(Inter Press Service)

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