The Liberal Democratic Party had dubbed Sunday's election a "battle in mourning," in hopes that the untimely death of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi would get out the "sympathy vote." As it turned out, the LDP and its coalition partners suffered a major set- back, contrary to the wishes of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who took office less than two months ago.

In my view, the primary reason for the setback is the economy, which has remained in the doldrums ever since the asset-price bubble burst in 1990. The government has poured tens of trillions of yen into public-works projects over the past decade, but the economy is still struggling to recover. In the meantime, the combined long-term debt of the central and local governments has ballooned from 449 trillion yen to 645 trillion yen. Unemployment has climbed 50 percent from 2.26 million to 3.49 million.

Given this gloomy economic situation, the ruling parties could not possibly have expected to boost their combined strength. In fact, LDP Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka, the party's campaign manager, had made modest predictions, setting the minimum target for the LDP at 229 seats, more than 40 fewer than the 271 it held before the Lower House was dissolved. And he made it clear that if the LDP failed to achieve that target, he would resign to take responsibility.