Since the days of the indomitable Shigeru Yoshida*, whose staggered terms in the late Forties and early Fifties as Japanese Prime Minister often proved to be a match of wills for even Douglas MacArthur, the Liberal Democratic Party has enjoyed as uninterrupted a reign as any national political force could hope for. In the postwar period, politics in Japan have been observed as "the game across the street," where a combination of strict election laws and institutionalized special interests has distanced the political class from the general public - resulting in a powerful establishment executing sedentary policies for a somewhat ambivalent electorate. A series of corruption scandals shattered the LDP's Diet majority in 1993, but the party quickly recovered and has assumed a strong position in every coalition since.
In late September, Junichiro Koizumi was reelected by his majority as Prime Minister and vowed to proceed with implementing promised market reforms - badly needed by Japan's stammering economy.
Which makes this development all the more intriguing:
Nobody expects Japan's main opposition party to dethrone Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democrats in elections this weekend. But they might pull within range of another elusive goal -- the creation of a viable two-party system.Capitalizing on voter frustration with government waste, a long stagnant economy and successive scandals under the Liberal Democratic Party, the opposition Democrats are putting up the most serious challenge to the ruling bloc in years.
"This election is also about whether we can create a new Japanese democracy," Democratic leader Naoto Kan has told voters. "Whether we can build a two-party system depends on the outcome of this election."
My knowledge of parliamentary governing systems in limited, but I'm fairly sure that two-party systems are generally difficult to maintain within them - unlike our own, which strongly reinforces bipolar competition. Some pundits are skeptical about potential gains by the reform-minded Democratic Party of Japan, but the challenge itself is sure to breathe some life into elections. If the DPJ is even partially successful by building leverage in the Diet, Koizumi and his LDP may finally be forced to give serious review to their party's ponderous, antiquated economic policies.
* Or Yoshida Shigeru; I went surname-first this time.