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Governing Party Appears Headed to Lead Japanese Parliament Election Win by Ruling Party Signals Change in Japan
(about 1 hour later)
TOKYO — Japanese voters appeared to hand a decisive victory on Sunday to the governing Liberal Democratic Party in upper house elections, restoring the once-discredited party to a virtual monopoly on political power for the first time in six years. TOKYO — Japanese voters handed a landslide victory to the governing Liberal Democratic Party in parliamentary elections on Sunday, opening the possibility of dramatic changes in the long paralyzed country, even as it returned Japan to effective one-party rule that seemed to thwart recent hopes for a more competitive democracy.
The party, which had controlled Japan for most of its postwar history until its defeat four years ago, appeared to win back public support with its pledge to rebuild Japan’s national strength at a time when the nation faces a growing challenge from China. The election was widely viewed here as a referendum on the hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to revive Japan with a three-pronged economic plan, called Abenomics, that has already succeeded in prompting a tentative recovery. By securing control of both houses of parliament for up to three years, the win offers Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — an outspoken nationalist who promises to revitalize Japan’s long stagnant economy and strengthen its military — the chance to be the most transformative leader in a decade. It also offered an opportunity to end the nation’s series of short-lived and ineffective prime ministers.
According to early results by Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, the Liberal Democrats secured 63 of the 121 seats being contested, with 14 seats still up for grabs. That almost doubled the number of contested seats held by the party before the election. Combined with 10 seats won by its coalition partner, a small Buddhist party, the Liberal Democratic Party appeared to gain a majority in the 242-seat chamber. The victory comes at a time when many Japanese seem more open than ever to change, after years of failed efforts to end the economic slump, and as an intensifying territorial challenge by China that has nudged this long pacifist nation toward seeking a more robust military.
The results come seven months after the Liberal Democrat-led coalition regained control of the more powerful lower house, which chooses the prime minister. A victory on Sunday would put the coalition in control of both houses, ending the so-called twisted Parliament in which opposing parties controlled each chamber since 2007. And unlike some of Japan’s previous colorless leaders, Mr. Abe, 58, seems eager to become just such an agent of change. He campaigned on promises to make fundamental, and possibly painful, changes in the economy. But his vows to stand up to China and rewrite Japan’s anti-war constitution to allow the legal right to maintain a full-fledged military, rather than self-defense forces, raising fears he will go too far and further isolate Japan in the region.
With no elections required by law for the next three years, a win would seem to offer Mr. Abe a free hand to pass legislation, and possibly end the paralysis that had hindered Japan’s ability to respond to its two-decade economic decline. A week before the election, he became the first prime minister to visit a tropical island near the group of uninhabited islets at the heart of the dispute with China, and had earlier raised eyebrows by riding in a tank and climbing into a fighter jet in front of cameras.
Political analysts said Sunday’s vote was as much a rejection by voters of the opposition as it was an embrace of the resurgent Liberal Democrats. The largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, received 11 seats in the early count, way down from its pre-election holding of 44 of the contested seats. Analysts attributed the defeat to public disgust with the party’s inability to deliver on its promises of change after defeating the Liberal Democrats in 2009. “Abe has a pragmatic side and a strongly nationalistic side,” said Hiroshi Shiratori, a professor of political science at Hosei University in Tokyo. “This election could free him up to do more of the latter, which is what he really wants.”
In a sign of lagging public interest in the election, the government reported that voter turnout was low at 32.6 percent, well below the 39.6 percent in the last upper house election three years ago. Analysts said the small turnout helped the Liberal Democrats, who were better organized. It remains unclear how far the Japanese people may be willing to let him go. A low turnout on Sunday — 32.6 percent of voters went to the polls, down from nearly 40 percent during the last upper house election — suggests that Mr. Abe had received less than a full mandate. While Sunday’s results gave his ruling coalition a comfortable majority in the upper house, it fell short of the two-thirds that the Liberal Democrats and allies would need to revise the constitution, something that has not happened since it was crafted by American occupiers after World War II.
Liberal Democratic leaders said the party drew support from voters seeking leadership for this long-rudderless nation, which Mr. Abe has vowed to provide since taking office in December. They said voters had gone back to the Liberal Democrats because they appeared better able to deliver results than the Democrats, who are also blamed for bungling Japan’s response to the earthquake and nuclear disaster two years ago. As vote counting continued into the early hours of the morning, officials said the Liberal Democrats had won 65 of the 121 seats being contested. When combined with the 11 seats secured by its coalition partner, a small Buddhist party, the Liberal Democrats had taken enough seats to gain a majority in the 242-seat chamber.
“This is a victory of the politics of decisiveness over the politics of indecisiveness,” Masahiko Komura, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters. The largest opposition group, the Democratic Party, suffered a humbling setback, securing 17 seats from voters who still blame it for failing to deliver on promises of reform after a landmark election four years ago that ousted the Liberal Democrats in what had seemed to herald the advent of a vibrant two-party democracy. Before the vote Sunday, one weekly tabloid criticized the impending return of the Liberal Democrats’ effective monopoly as “a return to the ways of our ancestors.”
A new party led by the populist mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, also fared poorly, winning just six seats in the early count. Support for Mr. Hashimoto, who once seemed a favorite to become a prime minister, fizzled after the mayor appeared to defend Japan’s wartime system of forcing Korean and other women to provide sex to Japanese troops. Speaking to reporters after the victory, Mr. Abe thanked voters for ending the so-called twisted parliament, in which opposing parties had split control of the two houses since 2007, adding to Japan’s long political paralysis. But he admitted that he faced a challenge in convincing other lawmakers and also voters, who must approve any revision to the constitution in a public referendum.
Also notable was the weak showing of candidates opposing nuclear power, despite polls showing a majority of Japanese still resist restarting the nation’s nuclear plants, all but one of which were idled after the Fukushima nuclear accident. In the early count, five candidates who had campaigned on an anti-nuclear platform appeared to win seats, NHK said. “There is still need to widen and deepen the debate on the constitution,” Mr. Abe said. “Voters have given us this new period of political stability, so we have time to deepen the debate.”
He said he would also pursue an intermediate step of making the constitution easier to revise by requiring a simple majority in parliament instead of the current two-thirds. But making this change would require changing the constitution, which means gathering enough votes.
Still, analysts said the win, coming just seven months after Mr. Abe’s party regained control of the lower house, had made reform of the constitution feel like a real possibility for one of the first times since it was adopted in 1947. In interviews outside polling stations, voters said that anxiety about China, and a hunger for leadership to restore Japan’s international standing, made them willing to at least try some of Mr. Abe’s ideas.
“I agree with Abe,” said Noriaki Hibi, a 51-year-old telecommunications worker in the Tokyo suburb of Sayama. “Given the current situation with China, I think we need military preparedness.”
But analysts said that support could fall once discussion turns to the specifics of constitutional reform, with polls showing a majority of voters still opposing changes to the anti-war provisions. They also said much of the support for Mr. Abe rests on the popularity of his economic stimulus policies, known as Abenomics, which have already succeeded in starting Japan’s $5 trillion economy on the road to a recovery.
“This is not unconditional support for Mr. Abe’s whole agenda,” said Jun Iio, a political scientist at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “Public support could evaporate if the economy starts to sour.”