Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling party, dogged by corruption scandals and plunging support for his weeks-old government, faces its toughest challenge in decades in Sunday’s parliamentary election. This could set up a very short-lived time in office for Ishiba. But even if he falls, it won’t hurt his Liberal Democratic Party.
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Analysts expect the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan to significantly gain ground, but not enough to change the government. Here’s a look at how the LDP has dominated postwar Japanese politics and what virtual single-party rule means for Japan.The LDP was formed in 1955 by the merger of two major conservative parties: the Liberal Party and the Japan Democratic Party, just as leftwing groups formed the Socialist Party. They led Japan after the war, when conservatives in the U.S.-occupied country were looking to deter the spread of communism.
The current electoral system combines single-seat districts with proportional representation. That means Liberal Democratic candidates only face opposition rivals, rather than competing against fellow party candidates. It has allowed the LDP to concentrate its political resources on one candidate per district.
This is what happened when Ishiba replaced his unpopular predecessor, Fumio Kishida, who resigned in the face of voter anger over. Kishida took leadership in the dissolution of most of the LDP factions and revised a political funding law, but voters and critics called the measures too lax. The main opposition is the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, but the party has struggled to build momentum despite the LDP scandals. Its newly elected leader, centrist former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, is pushing a conservative shift for the party to attract swing voters, saying that “a change of government is the most effective political reform.”
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