THE leaders of seven Japanese opposition parties are due to finally come together today to announce their joint plan for ending 38 years of continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The end of LDP dominance became almost certain yesterday when two opposition parties with the power to still give either the opposition or the LDP a working majority, finally rejected LDP efforts to secure their support and cast in their lot with the opposition.
As they did so, the LDP itself split along generational and policy lines as only two candidates entered the race for the party presidency, a contest which became necessary following the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
The first change of government brought about by Japanese voters under the 1947 Constitution became possible in the wake of the July 18 general election when the LDP, in power continuously since 1955, lost 42 seats out of the 275 won in the last election in 1990.
Five opposition parties had discussed the possibility of a coalition to replace the LDP before the election, on the initiative of the largest party formed by LDP defectors, Shinseito (Japan Renewal Party).
The other four parties covered the political spectrum from the left-wing Japanese Socialists to the left-of-centre Shaminren (Social Democratic Union) to the centrist Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) and the Komeito (Clean Government party).