WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has told the Japanese public that despite his ruling coalition government's devastating defeat in the July 29 Upper House elections, he will do "the responsible thing": He will stay on as the party's leader and as Japan's prime minister.
He has asked some of the party's key factional representatives to publicly back his decision, and has met Akihiro Ota, leader of the LDP coalition partner, Komeito, to issue a joint statement that their cooperation would continue. Komeito also suffered badly, losing key districts to Democratic Party of Japan competitors.
Since this announcement, made very early as election results came in on election night, Abe's decision has been the focal point of national debate. The leader of the winning party, the DPJ, has forcefully argued that the time has come for regime change in Tokyo, and the DPJ leadership — Naoto Kan, Yukio Hatoyama, and the conspicuously cheerful architect of the DPJ's electoral success, Ichiro Ozawa — insist that their goal is a change of government. They plan to push for dissolution of the Lower House and a new general election that would test the LDP (and Abe's) mandate.