Non-Subscriber ExtractJapan's electoral revolution set to shift international relations |
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01 September 2009
Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, observes the ballot counting for parliamentary elections in Tokyo on 30 August. (PA)
The DPJ's victory is both substantial in scale and historic in its importance. The party gained 308 seats out of the total 480 in the House of Representatives (lower house of the Diet), with the LDP gaining only 119, down from 181.
Moreover, the opposition's victory at the ballot box is only the second time the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been ousted from power since its inception in 1955. This allowed for a highly stable political system largely run by the LDP's various factions and powerful bureaucracy, albeit with a rotation of relatively short-lived prime ministers.
The shift in government therefore represents a significant change in Japan's domestic political environment.