Japan election: Shinzo Abe's coalition wins supermajority
Shinzo Abe
In an interview with NHK after polls closed   Abe  said  he  would push for an amendment.
“The ruling parties have been granted a majority ”  he  said. “I think it was the people’s voice telling us to make progress in politics and bring results with a stable political base.”
For a leader touting stability  the election had been a gamble.  Abe  had called the vote more than a year early  justifying it by saying that  he  needed a new mandate to deal with the threat posed by North Korea and to work through the details of a consumption-tax increase.
Many analysts said  Abe ’s motive was more opportunistic  however  with the prime minister taking advantage of the disarray of the Democratic Party  Japan’s main opposition party  and a small bump in  his  approval ratings after a number of scandals earlier this year.
The LDP has long dominated postwar Japanese politics. For many Japanese voters   Abe ’s leadership represents stability after years of short-lived governments before  he  returned to the prime minister’s office in 2012.
Some analysts suggest  however  that the weakness of the opposition may mask discontent with  Abe  and a lack of support for many of  his  policies. One exit poll cited by Kyodo showed 51 percent of voters saying they don’t trust  Abe   while 44.1 percent said they do.
Koichi Nakano  a professor of political science at Sophia University  said that the election exposed a lack of widespread support for  Abe ’s policies.  Abe  did not win “because people enthusiastically support  him  ” Nakano said. “People are disaffected and the opposition is divided.”
The bad weather may have also helped  Abe . The approaching Typhoon Lan left voters battling strong winds and heavy rain to make it to polling stations. On Monday  Kyodo estimated the final turnout at 53.69 percent  only marginally above a record low in the 2014 election.
Despite the rain  a number of voters could be found exiting a polling station in Tokyo’s cosmopolitan Roppongi neighborhood Sunday morning. Nobue Koizumi  a 67-year-old retired translator  said she had felt compelled to vote because of fears about  Abe ’s security policies.
“I don’t particularly support  Abe   but I do support” the LDP  said Hiroki Shinohara  a 54-year-old wholesaler at the Tsukiji fish market. “I feel it’s doing what’s right for Japan  and Japan needs it.”
In an interview with NHK after polls closed   Abe  said  he  would push for an amendment.
“The ruling parties have been granted a majority ”  he  said. “I think it was the people’s voice telling us to make progress in politics and bring results with a stable political base.”
For a leader touting stability  the election had been a gamble.  Abe  had called the vote more than a year early  justifying it by saying that  he  needed a new mandate to deal with the threat posed by North Korea and to work through the details of a consumption-tax increase.
Many analysts said  Abe ’s motive was more opportunistic  however  with the prime minister taking advantage of the disarray of the Democratic Party  Japan’s main opposition party  and a small bump in  his  approval ratings after a number of scandals earlier this year.
The LDP has long dominated postwar Japanese politics. For many Japanese voters   Abe ’s leadership represents stability after years of short-lived governments before  he  returned to the prime minister’s office in 2012.
Some analysts suggest  however  that the weakness of the opposition may mask discontent with  Abe  and a lack of support for many of  his  policies. One exit poll cited by Kyodo showed 51 percent of voters saying they don’t trust  Abe   while 44.1 percent said they do.
Koichi Nakano  a professor of political science at Sophia University  said that the election exposed a lack of widespread support for  Abe ’s policies.  Abe  did not win “because people enthusiastically support  him  ” Nakano said. “People are disaffected and the opposition is divided.”
The bad weather may have also helped  Abe . The approaching Typhoon Lan left voters battling strong winds and heavy rain to make it to polling stations. On Monday  Kyodo estimated the final turnout at 53.69 percent  only marginally above a record low in the 2014 election.
Despite the rain  a number of voters could be found exiting a polling station in Tokyo’s cosmopolitan Roppongi neighborhood Sunday morning. Nobue Koizumi  a 67-year-old retired translator  said she had felt compelled to vote because of fears about  Abe ’s security policies.
“I don’t particularly support  Abe   but I do support” the LDP  said Hiroki Shinohara  a 54-year-old wholesaler at the Tsukiji fish market. “I feel it’s doing what’s right for Japan  and Japan needs it.”