Implications of the results of the Upper House election

On Sunday, July 29, a Upper House election was held, the first national election since the Koizumi Cabinet was launched, and the Liberal Democratic Party won a sweeping victory. The results of the election showed that the LDP, which continued to suffer serious setbacks throughout the 1990s, has rebounded, shaking off the pursuit of the Democratic Party and other opposition parties.

The massive victory showed that the Japanese public had put confidence in the Koizumi Cabinet which was formed under the slogan, "structural reforms without sanctuaries". However, most newspapers report that people's post-election expectations are placed on the contents of the reforms and on their concrete actualization. Newspapers all agree that the Koizumi Cabinet will be put to the real test in the coming months.

To carry out the reforms, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet face numerous difficult problems requiring immediate solutions. They must carry out measures for reconstructing public finances and buoying up the economy in a well-balanced manner; establish safety nets to deal with employment problems that arise when disposing of bad loans; and change the policy of protecting the vested rights of existing LDP support groups and coordinate matters with those who oppose these moves.