LDP takes a battering

 

 

It is tough going for the 10-month-old regime of Japanese Prime Minster, Shinzo Abe. A crushing electoral defeat in the upper house polls has rattled his infant government and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). That the LDP could win only 37 of the 121 seats in the Upper House of the Diet, conceding 60 seats to the Democratic Party, only goes to prove the dwindling popularity of the ruling party.

It is for the first time in the post-war Japanese political history that the LDP, which has been a part of the ruling combination since 1955, is not the single largest party in the Upper house of Parliament. The shock defeat has certainly raised hackles both within and outside the LDP circles about the credibility of Shinto Abe’s leadership.

With the demand for Shinto Abe’s resignation gaining momentum and Shinto refusing to oblige, the opposition – the instability-afflicted Japanese polity – is tottering from bad to worse. This fact was amply brought home by Taro Kono, an LDP lawmaker who candidly remarked that “many voters decided that Prime Minister Abe, or his government, isn’t qualified for the job.”

Earlier in the year, Abe’s Agriculture minister had committed suicide while undergoing an investigation related to financial fraud. Abe also had to approve the removal of his Defence Minister for making unwarranted remarks, which hurt the victims of the 1945 nuclear attack on Japan. But the biggest blunder designed to push Abe’s popularity further downhill, are revelations about the inept and unprofessional handling of pension records in the country.

 The waning fortunes of the Abe government, allegedly neck deep in corruption scandals and flawed policy making imbroglios, is pushing the fluctuating Japanese economy from the path of quick recovery. The second largest economy of the world needs to put it’s house in order, or else, the Chinese dragon is mostly likely to overtake Japan and alter the global power equations in the region.

The other big question, relations with China, has also come under the scanner with Abe's critics accusing him for being too soft with Beijing and its perpetual demands.