Staff writers
New Komeito, the second-largest opposition party, is expected to formally decide to join the ruling bloc at its party convention today, paving the way for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Liberal Democratic Party to secure a broader and more stable power base for its coalition government.
But the LDP will not have time to indulge itself in blind optimism. Before launching the new coalition, the LDP has to clear a series of hurdles, ranging from talks to forge policy agreements among members of the alliance to creating an arrangement for cooperation by the three parties for the next Lower House elections.