Uno Govt set for election loss

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 10

Uno Govt set for election loss

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japan’s ruling party assumes it will lose tomorrow’s Upper House 'election and is hoping to revive its scandal-scarred fortunes in a later poll, political analysts say. The Liberal Democratic Party needs to win 54 of the 126 seats at stake on Sunday to keep its majority in the 252-seat chamber. But polls indicated it would win about 35. The party, which has ruled Japan continuously

since 1955, is in a mess. It has managed to alienate most of the electorate in the past year, particularly with the inept introduction of a sales tax in April which has outraged virtually everyone. Then there are the financial scandals which have tarred most of the L.D.P. leaders and allegations of sexual indiscretion against Prime Minister Sosuke Uno, who took over the job only last month. But probably most wor-

rying of all for the L.D.P. is a feeling abroad in Japan that the time has come for a change. Opposition parties, particularly the Japan Socialist Party, are hoping they can ride the tide of antiL.D.P. feeling into a new era in which the party’s grip on power can be broken. “The chaotic situation in the L.D.P. is without precedent,” said Hajime Shinohara, the professor of politics at Seikei University. »

“They have no obvious successor for Uno. The core of the party has melted away.” Some analysts believe the electoral base on which the L.D.P. has based 34 years of victory is disintegrating too. The expected crushing defeat for the L.D.P. has dampened sentiment in Japanese financial markets, with currency and stock markets anxiously watching the outcome of the elections.