TOKYO - Japan's voters on Sunday returned power to the Liberal Democratic Party, the colossus that until 2009 ran post-World War II Japan nearly without interruption, and that now reinherits the major economic problems no leader in Tokyo has been able to fix.
The parliamentary election, based on projections after the polls closed, delivers an emphatic change -- albeit one that leads back to a 50-year status quo. Public broadcaster NHK said the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will grab between 275 and 310 spots in the 480-seat lower house, up from the 118 it had before. The ousted Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will win between 55 and 77 seats, down from 230, a fierce rebuke of a party that guided the country into another recession and into a bitter territorial dispute with China.
The election also reinstates a familiar face, with nationalist Shinzo Abe -- party president of the LDP -- becoming prime minister for the second time, following a turbulent 366-day stint in 2006 and 2007. Abe replaces Yoshihiko Noda, marking Japan's 14th leadership change in 20 years. The turnover rate reflects the many protracted political battles, and few easy policymaking solutions, in an aging nation with a shrinking workforce and the industrialized world's highest debt burden.
The LDP will try to overcome some of that gridlock by quickly forming a coalition with New Komeito -- and perhaps another party if necessary -- that would yield a 320-seat veto-proof "supermajority." That would help the LDP pass bills even without support of the DPJ-led upper house.
Late Sunday night, as it became clear his party had taken a drubbing, Noda stepped down as head of the DPJ to take responsibility for the "tough" result.
When it last ruled, the LDP was a centrist party, famous for support from rural areas and pork-barrel spending on construction projects. But Abe has helped steer his party farther to the right, vowing on the campaign trail to "take back Japan." Political analysts say his second premiership will reveal how his priorities to boost military spending and revise the pacifist constitution jibe with those of the public.
Abe has also said he wants to place government officials on the uninhabited islands claimed by China -- a move that would infuriate Beijing and potentially force a treaty-bound Washington to take sides with Tokyo in a small-scale armed conflict.
Abe said Sunday night that he wanted to visit Washington in his first overseas trip to boost bilateral ties.
