Elections in Japan

18 Nov 2012

The belief in Japan is that the Liberal Democratic Party will wrest power back from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan next month - a prospect Beijing is probably quite happy with.

4:44AM

Noda likely to call November poll

24 Aug 2012

Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is likely to call a snap election for November, ruling and opposition party members said yesterday, despite the likelihood that his party will...

3:16AM

Fading chance

21 Dec 2011

When the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009, ending the decades-long monopoly of the Liberal Democratic Party, there was a general expectation that the new ruling party would...

3:45AM

Japan needs a genuine two-party system now

1 Sep 2009

Japan has changed course. Voters have turned overwhelmingly to the Democratic Party of Japan to give hope and bring change. Their decision came amid global economic turmoil and record...

1:54PM

Opportunity lost for change in Japan

23 Sep 2008

Japan's troubles point squarely towards the need for change.

9:51AM

The last rites

5 Sep 2008

Japan calls itself a parliamentary democracy but, under the dominant rule of the Liberal Democratic Party for 99 per cent of the past 53 years, it has been mostly the former and a smidgen of the...

12:19PM

Opinion

Alex Lo

Chen Guangcheng misled by his new right-wing 'friends'

1:26AM

Tom Holland

The yuan hasn't overtaken the HK$ quite yet, Mr Chan

4:40AM

The man who would be PM

Rarely has the old cliche about a week being a long time in politics been more appropriate.

10:30AM

Abe must respond to new political reality

After more than half a century of stagnation, Japan's democratic evolution has taken a step forward with the opposition decisively winning elections for the upper house of parliament.

3:50PM

Opposition between a rock and a hard place

After a crushing defeat in last September's general election, fractious debate on its future direction and an embarrassing fiasco over a faked e-mail that has cost the Democratic Party of Japan (...

1:40PM

Women on top

The parliamentary election in Japan was full of thrilling drama. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi set it in motion by unexpectedly dissolving the Diet.

1:02AM

'Assassins' defeat 14 LDP rebels

Junichiro Koizumi's 'assassins' took out nearly half of their targets on Sunday, defeating 14 Liberal Democratic Party turncoats.

12:41AM

Battle for relevance likely to be a fight to the death

For Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Sunday's general election is all about moulding the Liberal Democratic Party into a stable, modern organisation.

For several of the other parties...

12:18AM