Japan’s ruling coalition was a clear winner in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, preliminary results and Japanese media exit polls indicated, paving the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push ahead with his economic revival policies, but also possibly changing the nation’s postwar pacifist constitution.
Half of the seats of the less powerful upper house were up for grabs. There had been no possibility for a change of power because the ruling coalition, headed by Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, already controls the more powerful lower house, but the balloting was a key gauge of how much support Abe’s coalition has among the public. The opposition had called on voters to show their rejection of Abe’s position to have a more assertive military role for Japan.
According to the exit polls, the Liberal Democrats won 57 to 59 seats among the 121 that were contested. Its coalition partner Komeito won about 14 seats.
Combined with other conservative politicians, the coalition may win a two-thirds majority in the upper house, which would be critical to propose a referendum needed to change the constitution. Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the Liberal Democrats may clinch the majority on their own.
Final results of the balloting aren’t expected until early today.
Abe showed up before TV cameras at party headquarters, all smiles, to pin red flowers, indicating confirmed wins, next to his candidates’ names written on a big board.
“I am honestly so relieved,” he told NHK, promising new government spending to help wrest the economy out of the doldrums in a “total and aggressive” way.
He declined to give the amount for the spending. He also said discussions should start on changing the constitution to work out details.
With their pro-business policies, the Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost continuously since World War II, and until recently enjoyed solid support from rural areas. The few years the opposition held power coincided with the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters that devastated northeastern Japan. The opposition, however, fell out of favor after being heavily criticized for its reconstruction efforts.
Robert Dujarric, professor and director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University Japan in Tokyo, said the win reflected voters’ disenchantment with the opposition, rather than their excitement about Abe’s policies.
“The public is old. It doesn’t want change,” he said. “It doesn’t want what Japan really needs – more structural reform, less money for the old and more funding for families and children.”