Japan’s ruling bloc wins landslide victory in election
PM Abe’s party, coalition partner win at least 325 seats to secure supermajority in parliament’s lower house.
By Todd Crowell
TOKYO
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and its coalition partner scored a landslide victory in Sunday’s election, winning at least 325 seats to secure a supermajority in the lower house.
National broadcaster Kyodo reported that according to its tally, the LDP had won 290 seats as of 01.40 a.m. (04.40 p.m. GMT) Monday, while its long-time partner New Komeito claimed 35.
The tally showed the opposition as having won a total of 147 seats, 70 of them belonging to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Having secured two-thirds of the 475-seat House of Representatives, the ruling bloc will have the capacity to override the upper house of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.
As the legal term for a parliamentarian is four years, the election guarantees the LDP another four years in power and almost guarantees Abe’s re-election as party leader -- a prerequisite for remaining prime minister -- in the party presidential election in September.
“The election was meaningless as there was essentially no change, but it extends Abe’s term when he is faced with some unpopular decisions, such as promoting the re-start of idled nuclear plants,” long-time Japan watcher Michael Penn told Anadolu Agency.
While the main opposition DPJ more or less held its own, its leader Banri Kaieda lost his seat in central Tokyo.
“I hope the election will become our first solid step toward recovery,” Yukio Edano, widely assumed to be Kaieda’s successor, told AA.
The biggest losers in Sunday’s election were the smaller remnants of the “third party” opposition element that had figured prominently in the 2012 general election. Such figures included Shintaro Ishihara, former four-term governor of Tokyo and a well-known arch-conservative.
One of the surprise winners in the election was the Japanese Communist Party, which was on track to double or even triple its representation in parliament -- currently standing at eight. It also won a first single-seat district, Okinawa, for the first time in 18 years.
The only prominent LDP candidate to lose his re-election bid was Koya Nishikawa, minister of agriculture. His defeat may have implications for Japan’s joining the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership.
But another prominent figure Yuko Obuchi, who resigned from the cabinet over a fundraising scandal in October, easily retained her seat.
As was also predicted, voter turnout was extremely low at 53 percent compared with other recent elections.
“The real story is the turnout,” Jun Okumura, senior advisor for the Eurasia Group, told AA. “It undermines the story that Abe earned a mandate.”
A total of 1,191 candidates ran for election in the 475-seat chamber, 295 for single-member seats and 180 on the proportional voting list.
