|
|
Article: Japan's great hope; Can Junichiro Koizumi turn electoral triumph into economic recovery?(Can Junichiro Koizumi turn electoral triumph into economic recovery?)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- August 4, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
The country's maverick reformer, Junichiro Koizumi, now has a popular mandate. He must use it
"I WAS able to overcome the first obstacle" was Junichiro Koizumi's sober take on his election victory on July 29th. This was modest: his achievement was little short of astounding. In the three months since he became leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the wavy-haired, trendily clad Mr Koizumi, whose predecessor was driven from office by dismal opinion-poll scores, has notched up approval ratings of over 80% and translated them into an impressive 65% of the contested seats for his ruling coalition in the upper-house election last Sunday. Before he took ...