Word: ldp
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...After half a century Japan, it seems, is finally clamoring for change. The LDP machine, which lifted Japan from its postwar doldrums, has been unable to deliver the needs of the public for years - some would argue decades. Now, faced with an uncertain future and an economy in crisis, Japan's electorate is expected to call for a shift in direction - and also to say that they have a choice in which party leads their country. "This is the most important election since 1955," says Gerald Curtis, a Japanese politics expert who teaches at Columbia University. "The DPJ will almost...
...poised to win more than 300 of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives election. A win of 320 seats would give the party a two-thirds majority and the power to pass bills without the support of other parties or even the upper house. Meanwhile, the ruling LDP party is slated to drop to about 100 seats, according to the daily Asahi Shimbun- an anemic one-third of what it held before Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved the lower house and called elections in July. The expected reshuffle points to the DPJ's strength not only in cities...
...been gaining momentum since 2007 - the year of its historic majority win of the Diet's upper house. And since official campaigning began on Aug. 18, the LDP, feeling the pinch of competition, has seen its bigwig politicians return to their constituencies to ask for support. Some of the LDP's more well-known members, such as faction leader Nobutaka Machimura and former defense minister and environment minister, Yuriko Koike, will have a difficult time defending their seats, say analysts...
...Japan's economy, however, has been suffering since the so-called "lost decade" of the 1990s following the bursting of Japan's banking and real estate bubbles. The LDP, says Curtis, failed to respond to the changing needs of the people, particularly those living in rural areas. The electorate system, which changed in 1994 to include single-member districts, also chipped away at what helped insulate the LDP from political competition. Before the switch from multi-member to single-member districts, voters who disapproved of the incumbent could vote for another LDP member if they wanted a change. With...
...LDP bigwigs, facing fresh competition from the DPJ, have also been making appearances back on their home turf. "Big shots are going back to their constituencies for the first time in years - to make a cleaner impression," says Daigo Sato, of dot-jp, a non-profit that places students in Diet internships. Fumio Kyuma, former defense minister and LDP representative of Nagasaki-prefecture, has recently made the rounds in order to secure a 10th term now that he's up against 28-year-old female DPJ candidate Eriko Fukuda. Fukuda not only represents the DPJ in age (on average...