Japanese voters reject longtime ruling partyBy John M. Glionna and Yuriko Nagano
Los Angeles Times
August 30, 2009 | 7:30 a.m.
Reporting from Tokyo and Seoul - Japanese voters today handed a historic and humiliating defeat to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its half-century of nearly unbroken rule, opting for an untested opposition party that pledged to revive the nation's ailing economy.
Signaling frustration over a declining quality of life, a record-high unemployment rate and unraveling social services, voters rebuked Prime Minister Taro Aso and a party that had dominated national politics here since the Eisenhower administration.
In landslide numbers, they turned to Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama, a wealthy 62-year-old son of a former prime minister who 13 years ago abandoned the Liberal Democratic Party to help co-found a now-thriving opposition movement.
The Kyodo News Agency reported that Hatoyama has begun talks today on forming a new government. News media exit polls show the Democrats could win more than 315 seats, or two-thirds of the parliament's 480-member lower house.
In a speech carried nationwide, Hatoyama acknowledged that he rode a sentiment of public anger against Liberal Democrats. "We are very grateful for what is happening. The Japanese public is feeling anger toward the ruling party," he said.
"We have felt this great need to change things to make life better for the public. We have been vowing to change the government in this election. It feels very likely that that is the situation that is unraveling."
Aso announced that he would resign, taking responsibility for the defeat. “The outcome of this election has been a very tough one. I am taking what the Japanese public is saying sincerely,” he said.
Throughout the campaign, the Democratic Party echoed the promise of change that Barack Obama last year rode to the U.S. presidency. Although experts say there was jubilation among many voters today, they believed that those high spirits were tempered.
"People feel better and lighter because the LDP is gone, but there is not the same jubilation felt in America after Obama's election," said Masaru Tamamoto, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.
"Obama told America where he was going. But the Democratic Party really hasn't told us where it and we are going."
The Democratic Party's campaign platform pledged to wrest control of government from well-entrenched bureaucrats they say have failed to fix the nation's ailing pension system.
The platform included child allowances for middle-class families and assistance for struggling farmers. The party promised to bolster an economy suffering its worst recession in six decades and which in July saw a record 5.7% jobless rate.
Hatoyama co-founded the party in 1996 after he bolted from the ranks of the Liberal Democrats. This is the first election in which the Democrats represented a viable alternative to the ruling party, which in recent years has isolated voters with a series of scandals and leadership gaffes by Aso.
Today's results represent stinging defeats to politicians -- including at least one former prime minister -- unaccustomed to losing elections.
One was Toshiki Kaifu, who served as prime minister from 1989 to 1991. At age 78, he was campaigning for his 30th term.
Yoshio Tezuka was one benefactor of the power shift.
Winning his first election at age 26, the two-term politician in 2005 lost his seat in the lower house representing Tokyo's 5th District to his Liberal Democratic opponent.
Early returns showed him regaining his seat. Tezuka, 42, said before today that he could feel the sense of change in the air in Japan. Still, he wasn't taking any chances.
Forsaking the election vans that candidates often use to cover more ground, broadcasting their message to voters via loudspeakers, Tezuka campaigned on foot between train stations to meet voters up close.
"Japan's never gone through a real political power shift. I think voters are feeling the possibility of the regime change being real," he said. "I feel a lot of sense of anticipation that may come from something like that. I've never gotten this much response in my career as a politician."
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