Word: komeito
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Instead, faced with one of the most heated elections in modern Japan's history, candidates from both parties are forced to get creative. In Hyogo prefecture, Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, a 73-year-old member of the New Komeito Party (the LDP's ruling coalition partner), decided to forgo his usual hairstyle - an old-school side-part - for no part. He also widened his stride, which his staff said would make him appear younger, according to local daily Kobe Shimbun. Other politicians have become more technologically savvy with QR codes on leaflets, so that younger voters can access their candidates' homepages - however...
...pedigree stand out. Both his grandfather and father-in-law were prime ministers and Aso's sister married into the imperial family. Pegged to win since Fukuda announced his plans to resign three weeks ago, he has the support of the LDP's partner coalition, the New Komeito Party, as well as younger voters. After campaigning for nearly two weeks, he easily beat the other four LDP candidates, including Yuriko Koike, the party's first female presidential candidate, who was backed by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...
Winning the general election is key for the LDP. Divisions between the party and its main coalition partner, the New Komeito party, have been growing. New Komeito is upset at being saddled with an unpopular Prime Minister as well as disapproving of a few of his cabinet choices and wants parliament dissolved in to come up with a whole new government. The DPJ is also pressing for an early dissolution because, it says, Fukuda "threw the administration away" by resigning so soon. Seiji Maehara, vice president of the DPJ, says, "The LDP people hope Aso will be in power...
...within the LDP has the stomach to launch a coup. But while he grimly holds on and the LDP squabbles over its future, the DPJ faces urgent problems of its own. Though it now holds the Upper House, the ruling coalition of the LDP and New Komeito maintain a majority in the more powerful Lower House, which will continue at least until elections in September 2009. DPJ officials have said they'll try to pressure Abe into calling snap elections, but there's no way of forcing one short of blocking all legislation and turning the Diet into a Tokyo...
...Koizumi entering the picture, with look-alike actors playing the roles of Abe and Ozawa. But what is certain is that Abe's vision of a stronger, more assertive Japan is finished for now. In one of the election's biggest surprises, the LDP's usually reliable coalition partner Komeito performed well under expectations - in part, suggests Jun Iio of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, because Komeito's generally pacifist supporters have rejected the party's connection with the conservative...