The past 10 days have been a tumultuous period in Japanese politics. I refer, of course, to the series of events from the resignation of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to the election of Junichiro Koizumi as Liberal Democratic Party president and prime minister and the inauguration of the Koizumi Cabinet.
For years, LDP-centered politics have been the object of public discontent and criticism, creating a deep sense of alienation among the people. Yet, of the four candidates for LDP president, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, head of the largest intraparty faction, had been considered the most likely winner. Politicians of all stripes, central-government bureaucrats and media commentators all thought that Hashimoto had a 60 percent to 70 percent chance of victory over Koizumi, the former health and welfare minister from the second-largest faction.
But it was Koizumi, not Hashimoto, who clinched a smashing victory in the primary balloting in which the party's prefectural chapters were given three votes each. That effectively assured him of the party presidency even before the final contest. On the night of April 26, following his election as prime minister earlier in the day, the Koizumi administration came into being.