UPPER HOUSE ELECTION 2010 / Ruling camp loses majority / Opposition LDP makes gains; Kan says he'll stay on
The ruling coalition of the Democratic Party of Japan and People's New Party lost its majority in Sunday's House of Councillors election, the first national poll since the DPJ came to power last year.
According to unofficial early election returns as of Monday morning, the DPJ had won 44 seats. The DPJ had 54 seats up for reelection.
The DPJ's junior coalition partner, the PNP, had not won any seats.
Despite the discouraging outcome, Naoto Kan expressed his resolve to stay on as prime minister.
"I'd like to continue to manage the government, with the mindset that I am again standing on the starting line," he told a press conference early Monday morning.
However, there are growing calls within the party for Kan and other party executives to take responsibility for the unsatisfactory outcome. Kan's tenure as DPJ president will expire in September.
Kan said his remarks on a consumption tax hike contributed to the upper house election losses and that the public likely had been caught by surprise.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party, the main opposition party, won 51 seats, the largest number taken in the Sunday poll. This was more than the 38 of its seats up for grabs.
LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki expressed his resolve to force the ruling coalition to dissolve the House of Representatives and call a general election.
"It's necessary to seek a mandate from voters," Tanigaki told a press conference Sunday night.
The ruling coalition's poor election performance is certain to deal a serious blow to its parties, observers say.
Unofficial tallies also showed that Your Party collected 10 seats; New Komeito won nine seats; the Japanese Communist Party had three seats; and the Social Democratic Party claimed two seats.
Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe denied the possibility of forming a coalition with the DPJ but suggested cooperating with the ruling bloc on an issue-by-issue basis.
"We won't form a coalition, but we may cooperate on individual agendas," he said.
In contrast to Your Party's advance, the newly launched Sunrise Party of Japan and New Renaissance Party each gained one seat.
Voter turnout was projected to be about the same level as in the 2007 upper house election, at about 58 percent, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
Of 29 constituencies where only one seat was up for grabs, the LDP secured the seat in 21 constituencies while the DPJ won in only eight constituencies.
Because the ruling bloc failed to retain a majority in the upper house, the Diet will be divided, as happened during the administrations of former prime ministers Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso. This phenomenon, in which opposition party seats outnumber those of the ruling bloc in the upper house, will be certain to impede the DPJ-led coalition's management of the Diet.
In the election, 66 seats currently held by the ruling coalition, including 62 DPJ seats, were not contested. The ruling coalition needed to win more than 56 seats to retain a majority in the chamber.
Kan had named 54--the number of the party's seats contested in Sunday's poll--as the DPJ's minimum target for the upper house election.
But the party could not achieve that goal.
The focal point of the election was whether the DPJ and the PNP would be able to maintain a majority of at least 122 seats in the chamber.
A consumption tax hike was the biggest bone of contention in the election. While the LDP called for raising the consumption tax rate to fund rising social security costs, the DPJ failed to provide a satisfactory explanation of the need to start discussions on a consumption tax hike, which apparently led to the Cabinet's declining popularity.
Official campaigning for the upper house election kicked off June 24 for a 17-day battle through Saturday.
The election was the first national poll since the historic change of government in September following the DPJ's landslide victory in the House of Representatives election in August.
Urna de votación japonesa
Tokio, Japón.- Hoy se realizaron las elecciones que renovaron la mitad de los 242 escaños de la Cámara de Consejeros, la Cámara Alta de Japón. Los resultados oficiales muestran que el gobernante Partido Democrático de Japón, perdió la mayoría simple dentro de la Cámara.

De los 54 escaños que poseía el partido gobernante antes de la jornada electoral, sólo pudo obtener 44 escaños, una cantidad menor a los 56 que se esperaba obtener para consolidar la mayoría. Mientras que el opositor Partido Liberal Democrático de Japón (gobernante hasta 2009), fue el principal beneficiado al aumentar de 38 a 51 escaños, sacando los mejores resultados electorales obtenidos desde hace seis años.

El Nuevo Komeito, aliado político del Partido Liberal Democrático, obtuvo 9 escaños (previamente 11), mientras que el partido Minna no Tō ha estrenado su aparición en la Cámara como la tercera fuerza más importante, al obtener 10 escaños, constituyéndose en una sorpresa en la jornada. El Partido Comunista de Japón sigue en orden de importancia al obtener 3 escaños (de los 4 que poseía antes de la elección), y luego el Partido Socialdemócrata de Japón con 2 escaños (antes poseía 3). Finalmente, los partidos novicios Tachiagare Nippon, mantuvo su escaño en la Cámara, mientras que Shintō Kaikaku sólo puedo obtener uno (antes tenía 5).

El resto de los partidos no obtuvo ningún resultado y como sorpresa, el pequeño Nuevo Partido del Pueblo y único aliado del gobernante Partido Democrático, perdió sus tres escaños disputados en la contienda. Sumando la totalidad de los escaños en la Cámara (incluyendo los electos y no electos hoy), el gobierno ahora posee 110 escaños mientras que la oposición ahora ocupa 132 escaños.

Los resultados han comprometido más la gobernabilidad del primer ministro Naoto Kan y ha sembrado dudas en la capacidad política del gobierno de centro-izquierda que se ha establecido en Japón desde hace diez meses. No obstante, aún con la victoria de los liberaldemócratas en la Cámara Alta, el gobierno estará a manos del Partido Democrático, ya que aún retienen la mayoría de la Cámara de Representantes (Cámara Baja), que determina el poder del partido gobernante en el país asiático.

Según los análisis políticos, las resultados adversos fueron un castigo del electorado, luego de las intenciones del primer ministro en aumentar los impuestos como forma de recuperación económica. Kan ha declarado que no dimitirá, sin embargo, deberá hacer nuevas alianzas con los partidos minoritarios de oposición y conseguir un mayor grado de gobernabilidad. No obstante, algunos partidos como el Minna no Tō han manifestado desde antes de la votación su oposición a aliarse con el Partido Democrático.