Quixotic or not, Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, the newly elected prime minister of Japan, has largely succeeded in sticking to his maverick goal of forming a Cabinet untainted by factional politics. Both in his selection of executive officers of the Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday and in his appointments of Cabinet members on Thursday, he bypassed the usual intervention by faction chiefs and managed to personally secure "the right person in the right post." As a result, the new Cabinet bears welcome features whose presence was lacking in past LDP Cabinets.

It is true that most of the new Cabinet members belong to one or another intraparty faction. Specifically, three Cabinet ministers are affiliated with the Mori faction, of which Mr. Koizumi himself was a leading member until the LDP-presidential race began earlier this month. Other factions each have one member in the new Cabinet. What is significant, however, is that they were virtually handpicked by Mr. Koizumi on the basis of the principle "the best fit for the post."

Traditionally, Cabinet posts have been distributed to factions according to their numerical strength and faction heads have played a decisive role in giving posts to faction members on a seniority-based system of rotation. But this practice has not been given any chance to play a part this time. If this leads to a steadily diminishing role for factions in the LDP, then Mr. Koizumi's rejection of this old practice will mark a real departure from the past for the faction-oriented LDP.