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Article: How Koizumi Did In the LDP.(International Edition)(Junichiro Koizumi and the Liberal Democratic Party)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- August 31, 2009
- Author:
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Byline: Takashi Yokota; Yokota is foreign-policy editor at NEWSWEEK Nihon-Ban, NEWSWEEK's Japanese-language partner.
The man who killed the ruling party was its star.
If there were obituaries in politics, the following would likely appear in Tokyo in late August: "The Liberal Democratic Party--which ruled the nation for five decades, presiding over its phenomenal rise and its more recent slide into stagnation--died on Aug. 30 due to complications from political sclerosis. It was 53 years old."
Declaring the LDP dead in advance of Japan's general election may seem a bit hasty. But with the ruling party trailing the opposition Democratic Party of ...