IN the final election tally, the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party was granted its wish - it will have as many seats in the new House of Representatives as it had in the old.
The LDP actually won 223 seats yesterday, but informed sources in Tokyo indicate that at least four of the 30 independents and minor party victors in the election are ready to cross over to the LDP, thus restoring its strength to the 227 total it had in the dissolved House.
The three new political parties made up largely of LDP dissidents won 103 seats all together. So, in one sense, the LDP and its breakaways - the total conservative membership in the new house - make a total of 330, better than any performamnce by the LDPwhen it was still united.
The coalition-building arithmetic which will now dominate Japanese politics is complex. With the four assured crossovers, the LDP needs 29 more seats to gain a simple majority of 256, and 44 more seats to get a working majority of 271 capable of controlling parliament.
The five opposition parties which have discussed a coalition - Shinseito, the Socialists, the Democratic Socialists, Komeito, and the Salaryman's Party - only won 195 seats.
Even if they persuade the other two new parties - Nihon Shinto and Sakigake - to join them, the seven-party coalition would still only have 243 seats.