The Sept. 11 general election produced stunning results unprecedented in Japanese political history. Unaffiliated voters gave overwhelming support to the governing Liberal Democratic Party, handing the LDP-New Komeito coalition more than two-thirds of the 480-seat Lower House. Paradoxically, conservative forces campaigning for reform beat the opposition forces at their own game.
The results mean that even if a bill is voted down in the Upper House, the Lower House can pass it with a two-thirds majority. The Upper House could become powerless. The question is, who were the enemies Koizumi defeated?
Koizumi's political skills fashioned the landslide, in which the LDP won 296 seats and partner New Komeito, 31, for a coalition total of 327. As part of a strategy deployed for the first time ever by an LDP leader, Koizumi exposed his enemies among the LDP ranks and moved to crush them ruthlessly, seemingly unconcerned about accusations that he had become a "dictator."