Election Update

by About Japan Editors As can be seen in the Japan Times article excerpted below, Yukio Hatoyama was elected head of the Democratic Party of Japan yesterday. For those of you unfamiliar with Japanese politics, Japan has a parliamentary democracy. For most of the postwar era, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has supplied the prime minister, either through winning a simple majority in the Diet or in a coalition government. In recent years, they have generally had to form a coalition. Currently, they have a coalition government with the Shin Komeito (or New Clean Government Party, which is closely associated with the Soka Gakkai religious movement).

However, the current prime minister, Tara Aso, is among the least popular in the history of Japan, and the LDP has a chance to lose the next election. If the LDP loses its grip on power, it is most likely that the Democratic Party of Japan will supply the Prime Minister. As head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Hatoyama would become prime minister. While elections have not yet been announced, they must be held by the end of September, and indications are that they will be held in the summer, likely in July. For more information about the internal politics leading to the election of Hatoyama, see the Japan Times article below.

Hatoyama elected head of DPJ The Japan Times Online: "Democratic Party of Japan chose Yukio Hatoyama as its new president Saturday by a relatively large margin over Katsuya Okada, who was the more popular candidate among the public in opinion polls"