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.