Independents to rescue Miki

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 8

Independents to rescue Miki

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party has suffered its worst election set-back since its inception, but eight Independents have united to ensure it will stay in power at least for the time being, United Press International reports.

The Prime Minister (Mr Miki) has blamed the poor showing on the SI2M Lockheed bribes scandal. For the first time, the conservative Liberal Democrats failed to win a majority in the 511-seat Lower House of Parliament, winning only 249 seats, seven short of a majority, the final returns show. However, eight of the 21 Independent candidates elected said yesterday that they would support or join the L.D.P., thus Riving Mr Miki’s party a slim majority. Another six of the elected Independents were considered conservatives, but they have not indicated their support for Mr Miki.

Mr Miki told a news conference that the outcome was much worse than he had expected. But he said it did not mean that the people had abandoned the Liberal Democratic Party.

“I saw it as a people’s call for the reconstruction of our party. The results showed the people do not want a radical change,” he said. Anticipating a hard time in leading the Diet (Parliament), Mr Miki said he would seek the co-operation of the New Liberal Club, a group of conservatives who broke away from the L.D.P. in protesting against its factional power struggle and the influence of big business on its policy. Trailing the L.D.P. were the Socialist Party, which won 123 seats, the Koneito (Clean Government) Party 55, the Democratic Socialist Party 29. the New Liberal Club 17. and the Communist Party 17. Twenty-one Independents, most of them conservative, also won.

The Communist Party lost 21 of the 38 seats it won in the previous election in 1972.