Opposition party wins Japanese parliamentary vote

TOKYO — Japan’s voters on Sunday returned power to the Liberal Democratic Party, the colossus that until 2009 ran post-World War II Japan nearly without interruption and that now re­inherits the major economic problems that no leader in Tokyo has been able to fix.

Based on projections after the polls closed, the parliamentary election delivered an emphatic change. Public broadcaster NHK said the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) grabbed 294 spots in the 480-seat lower house, up from the 118 it had before. The ousted Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won only 57, down from 230, a fierce rebuke of a party that guided the country into another recession and into a bitter territorial dispute with China.

Photos of the day

Buddhist Wesak festival, POW reunion, bridge collapse, world’s largest Lego model and more.

Latest stories from Foreign

Over protests, Israel plans to double prayer space at Western Wall

William Booth

The plan is aimed at appeasing American Jews and accommodating liberal Judaism at the Old City wall.

North Pole research camp to close before it falls through the cracks

Will Englund

Russian drift station, which went into operation Oct. 1, is threatened by the rapid melt of the Arctic ice sheet.

Turkish trade undeterred by detours

Kevin Sullivan

Instead of crossing Syria, Turkey’s truckers now sail around it, driving home an age-old truth: In war, commerce improvises.

• WorldViews: Improvising in a time of war

World Digest: May 24, 2013

Pakistani plane diverted in Britain after alleged threat; Niger, French forces kill last jihadist bombers.

In Britain, Cameron faces conservative backlash

Anthony Faiola

After building a coalition by embracing liberal social issues, prime minister is challenged from the right.

The election also reinstates a familiar face, with nationalist Shinzo Abe — party president of the LDP — becoming prime minister for the second time, after a turbulent 366-day stint in 2006 and 2007. Abe replaces Yoshihiko Noda, marking Japan’s 14th leadership change in two decades. The turnover rate reflects the many protracted political battles, and few easy policymaking solutions, in an aging nation with a shrinking workforce and the industrialized world’s highest debt burden.

The LDP will be able to overcome some of that gridlock because its coalition partner, New Komeito, won 31 seats. That gives the coalition a 320-
seat veto-proof “supermajority,” meaning its lawmakers can pass bills even without the support of the DPJ-led upper house.

Late Sunday, as it became clear that his party had taken a drubbing, Noda stepped down as head of the DPJ to take responsibility for the “tough” result.

When it last ruled, the LDP was a centrist party, famous for support from rural areas and pork-barrel spending on construction projects. But Abe has helped steer his party farther to the right, vowing on the campaign trail to “take back Japan.” Political analysts say his second premiership will reveal how his priorities to boost military spending and revise the pacifist constitution jibe with those of the public.

Abe has also said that he wants to place government officials on the uninhabited islands claimed by China — a move that would infuriate Beijing and potentially force a treaty-bound Washington to take sides with Tokyo in a small-scale armed conflict.

Abe said Sunday night that he wanted to visit Washington in his first overseas trip to boost bilateral ties.

Although the LDP’s victory Sunday suggests a landslide, the party has far from a mandate, with a support rate in the 20s. In one voting district after the next, its representatives won races without gaining a majority, benefiting from a fractured field contested among at least 12 political parties. Abe, according to polls, is not much more popular than he was when he resigned in 2007 because of a bowel illness.

The landslide result does “not mean [the LDP] has won the people’s overwhelming support,” independent political analyst Eiken Itagaki said. “With this in mind, the LDP executives are being careful not to get arrogant.”