The mood within the No. 1 opposition Liberal Democratic Party is far from jovial even though the July 11 Upper House election saw it regain some of the ground it lost to the Democratic Party of Japan in last year's general election.
In the most recent national polling in which one-half of the Upper House's 242 seats were up for grabs, the LDP headed by former Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki won 51 seats, outpacing Prime Minister Naoto Kan's DPJ, which garnered only 44 seats. So, the number of seats held by the DPJ and its junior coalition partner, the People's New Party, has dwindled to 109, more than 10 short of a majority.
During the campaign, Tanigaki pledged that he would step down if his party failed to prevent the DPJ-led coalition from holding a majority in the Upper House. In this he was successful, and he hopes other LDP victories will follow in local elections next year and in the all-important Lower House ballot within three years.