Word: ldp
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Japan's ruling party is betting on a little attitude going a long way. On Sept. 22, the Liberal Democratic Party gave itself a personality injection by electing Taro Aso, a Roman Catholic, "manga"-loving conservative with a wry smile and a sharp tongue, as its new president. The LDP must now wait to see if Aso's ascendance will be enough for the party to regain the five-decade legislative stranglehold it lost last year in the Diet...
...expected to become the nation's next Prime Minister. On Sept. 24, during the Diet's new session, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda - whose administration suffers from chronically low approval ratings, economic woes and gridlock in the Diet - will hand over the reins of government. Aso's rise signals the LDP's intent to reinvigorate its image and ride A wave of public support, typical for new prime ministers, into the general election. If those elections are held in late October as expected, Aso, 68, and his new Cabinet will have roughly one month to convince voters that the party...
...Upper and Lower Houses of the Diet have been paralyzed for more than a year now. In July 2007, the LDP lost the majority it held for five decades in the Upper House to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the opposition party. Since then, Japanese politics has been rife with indecision. The government has been paralyzed by issues ranging from the appointment of a central bank governor to an antiterrorism refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. Tack on a scandal over millions of dollars in lost pensions, a resumption of the gas tax, higher health insurance premiums...
Fukuda has not said when his resignation takes effect. But if the LDP elects Aso as president, the expectation is that the much-more appealing leadership could restore confidence in the party and help it win the general elections that needs to take place before Sept. 2009. Aso is a political golden boy, in spite of his 67 years, who is known for his love of manga or Japanese-style comic books. Some consider him destined for the top office, given his array of personal ties to former prime ministers and to the Imperial family itself (His brother...
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...