The voters' real message in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives is ambiguous at best. It can be interpreted in several important ways. In terms of the sheer number of seats won, it means a victory for the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Conservative Party. With a total of 271 seats, the tripartite governing alliance can continue to enjoy the so-called perfectly working majority in the Lower House. With this strength, the coalition group commands an absolute majority on all committees, in addition to monopolizing the chairperson's post on all those committees.

The coalition government is thus ensured of the passage of any bill unless it attempts legislation so controversial that it will antagonize not only the opposition parties, but also the general public. Viewed in this way, a majority of voters gave the coalition group a mandate to keep steering this country into the new century.

However, the actual votes cast for each coalition party do not paint such a positive picture for them. The LDP collected 233 seats, which not only represents a sharp drop from its pre-election strength of 271 but is also shy of a minimum majority of 241 in the 480-seat Lower House. New Komeito got 31, a drop of 11 from its previous strength; and the Conservative Party won only 7, also suffering the loss of 11.