and MITSUKO NASHIMAStaff writers
Amid mounting demands at home and abroad for steps to reflate the nation's ailing economy, the political fate of Keizo Obuchi, the newly elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will largely depend on how quickly he can promote measures to achieve that goal.
Obuchi now inherits a party that lacks both a majority in the House of Councilors and unity, due to internal cracks that developed during the heated and closely watched runup to the presidential election.