November 10, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1424

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TOKYO, Nov 9: Japan’s three-party ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party won 275 seats in Sunday’s election for the 480-seat Lower House of parliament, Kyodo news agency said.

It said the LDP won 237 seats and New Komeito, its main partner in the coalition, won 34, while the main opposition Democratic Party took 177 seats.

The head of Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party, Naoto Kan, said the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party had won the public’s mandate in Sunday’s election.

“It is proper to think that the ruling coalition, which has won a majority and possibly an absolute majority, at least in numbers in the election, has won the public’s mandate,” Kan told reporters.

By Sunday’s results, Japan, dominated by a single conservative party for nearly half a century, took a big stride towards a two-party system as the main opposition made big strides and smaller groups floundered.

Big-time losers included the New Conservative Party, the smallest member of the three-party ruling camp, and the Social Democrats — for decades the biggest opposition group but now a disappearing force.

The election pitted Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its two coalition partners mainly against the generally pro-reform Democrats, led by former grassroots activist Naoto Kan.

Media said the ruling camp hung onto its majority in parliament’s 480-seat Lower House with 275, falling well short of the 287 seats it held before the general election.

The LDP lost the majority it had held on its own, while the Democrats, newly merged with a smaller bloc, won 177 seats, up from 137. The strong showing by the Democrats is likely to move Japan closer to the true two-party system many voters seem to want.

“This is the first time I have come here so early,” said Masanori Ohmori, a 61-year-old retiree who arrived at a polling booth before it had even opened at 7am.

“I came because I felt this time that I can help bring about a change in leadership,” he added.

The LDP has ruled Japan for most of the past half century by catering to core supporters such as farmers, small businesses and construction firms. But its traditional support base has eroded.

“I usually vote for the LDP, but this time I voted for the Democrats,” said Koichi Kotake, 56, who works for a construction firm and lives in a suburb east of Tokyo.

“I had big expectations for Koizumi, but economic reforms are not working under the LDP, so I voted for change,” he said.

An increasing number of unaffiliated “floating voters” have also grown cool to the LDP, depriving it of a majority in the 1993, 1996 and 2000 elections.—Reuters