LDP's future as dicey as Humpty Dumpty's

BRUSSELS — Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been in office less than 12 months, yet polls show popular support for his administration running around 20 percent. Fukuda and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) face a bleak future.

Last year it was revealed that the administration had lost 50 million pension-contribution records from 20 million people, and this year it failed to seek renewal of the petroleum tax in time to prevent a four-week tax holiday for motorists when the opposition-controlled Upper House refused to roll over.

It has gone from bad to worse. Last July, Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, was so unpopular that the LDP lost the Upper House elections to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).