Ruling coalition wins big in Japan

Economy, expanding military’s role top issues for Abe

Election staff members carries a  ballot box for vote counting in the parliamentary lower house elections at a ballot counting center in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Election staff members carries a ballot box for vote counting in the parliamentary lower house elections at a ballot counting center in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO -- Japan's ruling coalition won a resounding victory in lower house elections Sunday, firming up Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hold on power as he prepares to push forward on several politically difficult fronts.

The conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled for most of the post-World War II era, locked up a solid majority and appeared headed to winning at least two-thirds of the House of Representatives together with its coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komei Party.

In a series of TV interviews from party headquarters, Abe said his top priority was the economy. "Economy first," he told national broadcaster NHK, adding that he would also tackle other major issues, including national security.

The U.S. government hopes Abe will be able to win passage of a series of bills needed to expand Japan's military role, so that it can play a bigger part in their alliance. A heated debate is expected when parliament takes up the legislation, likely after local elections in April.

With most of the votes counted, the Liberal Democrats had won more than 280 of the 475 seats in the lower house, and topped 310 with the Komei party, according to NHK. The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, had won about 70 seats.

The big victory will give a boost to Abe's agenda, including economic changes, nuclear plant restarts and his long-term goal of revising the Japanese Constitution. But opposition from vested interests and sizable segments of the public could still stymie his plans.

"I believe the results show that we have received a public mandate for the Abe administration's achievement over the past two years," Abe said in a live television interview with Tokyo Broadcasting System. "But we should not be complacent about the results."

Abe, who took office two years ago, called Sunday's snap election last month, saying he wanted a fresh mandate for his economic revitalization program, known as Abenomics.

Share prices have risen and many companies have reported record profits, but the recovery has faltered in recent months, with the country returning to recession after a sales tax increase chilled demand among consumers and businesses.

"I believe this shows that voters gave the Abe administration a positive evaluation over the past two years," said Finance Minister Taro Aso, who retained his seat in the nation's parliament. "Abenomics is still halfway through, and I feel a strong sense of responsibility to push it further."

In Washington, the White House congratulated Abe on his election victory, calling the U.S.-Japan alliance "the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific." The White House statement expressed appreciation for Abe's "strong leadership" on a wide range of issues from typhoon relief in the Philippines to the Ebola response and the international fight against the Islamic State group.

Despite weakening popularity ratings, a recession and messy campaign-finance scandals, the Liberal Democrats were virtually certain to triumph thanks to voter apathy and a weak opposition.

The popularity of the Democratic Party of Japan, which held power from 2009 to 2012, plunged after it failed to deliver on campaign pledges and struggled in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.

"I think Mr. Abe is the only choice we have considering from what I heard and saw in the reports," retiree Hiroshi Yamada said as he left a downtown Tokyo polling station.

Abe's agenda includes trying to carry out labor market changes and secure a trans-Pacific trade agreement that faces stiff opposition from the farm lobby and others.

He also hopes to begin restarting some of Japan's nuclear power plants, despite continued public concerns after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Kyodo news agency estimated voter turnout at 52 percent, a post-World War II record low and down 7 percentage points from the previous lower house election in 2012.

Many voters were perplexed over Abe's decision to call an election.

"I think two years is too soon to decide whether his policy failed or not," said Yoshiko Takahashi, a Tokyo businessman.

Abe said the victory was a call from voters to continue with his Abenomics policies to revitalize Japan, the world's third-largest economy after the United States and China.

He also seemed to recognize that there was growing discontent with his policies, which have bolstered the stock market but have yet to increase the real incomes of working Japanese.

"Abenomics is still unfinished," Abe said on live television. "We have ended the dark stagnation of two or three years ago, but there are still many people who haven't felt the benefits yet. We need to make sure that the benefits reach them."

In street interviews, Japanese voters said that with the opposition offering no appealing alternatives, they felt no choice but to support the Liberal Democrats. In Chofu, a suburb of Tokyo, voters said that they had not felt any benefits from Abenomics, but said that they were still better than the policies of the opposition Democratic Party, which was widely seen as mismanaging the country during a stint in power a few years ago.

"Abenomics is not a key issue for me, but there are no other parties who deserve my vote," said Masashi Shibata, 38, a public employee who said he had voted for the Liberal Democrats. "The Liberal Democratic Party is still better than the Democratic Party."

"I did not have any alternatives," said Yuko Tanino, a 45-year-old shop worker. "The Liberal Democratic Party was the only option."

Political analysts have also been speculating on what the conservative Abe may attempt outside the economic realm, something about which he said even less during the elections. With his governing party now under no foreseeable legal obligation to call elections for another four years, analysts said, Abe may use that time to try to pass less-popular changes, such as expanding the role of his nation's military or promoting more positive portrayals of Japan's World War II-era history.

"Now that he was won such a big victory, Prime Minister Abe has given no clear message on what will he try to accomplish with it," said Naoto Nonaka, a political expert at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. "Despite the rhetoric about Abenomics, his main goal seemed to be securing his own political position."

Information for this article was contributed by Ken Moritsugu, Mari Yamaguchi, Elaine Kurtenbach, Emily Wang and Kaori Hitomi of The Associated Press and by Martin Fackler and Hisako Ueno of The New York Times.

A Section on 12/15/2014

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