Japanese elections are normally steady and boring affairs – but this snap election was neither.
The dramatic vote follows a political funding corruption scandal that was revealed last year, which implicated senior lawmakers and cabinet members from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), tarnishing its image and angering the public.
It was the perfect storm – a scandal that saw dozens of LDP lawmakers investigated over pocketing millions of dollars in proceeds from political fundraisers, while households struggled with inflation, high prices, stagnant wages and a sluggish economy.
In the end, a furious and tired electorate sent a strong message in Sunday’s vote, punishing the LDP at the ballot box. And it was a stunning blow: a party which had ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 lost its single-party majority in the powerful lower house.
But there was no clear winner either. A fractured opposition failed to emerge as a viable alternative when the public was looking for one.
Although severely bruised, the LDP still won more seats – 191 – than the biggest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), whose final tally stands at 148 seats.
“This election appears to be about voters who are fed up with a party and politicians they see as corrupt and dirty. But it’s not one where they want to bring about a new leader,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies.
And yet the old leadership’s fate is unclear. The LDP’s governing coalition has fallen short of the halfway mark – 233 seats in the 465-member Diet – after its ally Komeito lost several seats, including that of its chief.
Even with Komeito’s 24 seats, the LDP will be unable to muster a majority.
It’s a “severe judgment”, said Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was sworn in as prime minister only early this month after winning a tight party leadership race.
Voters had “expressed their strong desire for the LDP to reflect and become a party that will act in line with the people’s will”, he said on Sunday, as results emerged.
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