Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, who has long been regarded as an eccentric but reform-minded politician, has been elected president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. When the four-way race started, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was the front-runner and odds-on favorite. Yet Mr. Koizumi caught up with and passed Mr. Hashimoto during preliminary polling, when the votes of local LDP chapter members were counted. In those preliminary ballots, Mr. Koizumi won 123 votes out of a total of 141. This upset determined the outcome of the decisive final voting by 346 LDP Diet members, which was held on Tuesday. In that ballot, Mr. Koizumi obtained 175 votes, which, when combined with his overwhelming majority in the primaries, gave him the party presidency.
Indeed, the fact that a preliminary election was even held was the most crucial factor in Mr. Koizumi's victory over Mr. Hashimoto. Mr. Hashimoto heads the largest faction that has effectively controlled the LDP for decades. The "winner-takes-all" principle was adopted in the preliminary voting, which turned out to be a kind of popularity vote. In such a contest, Mr. Koizumi, who is widely regarded as "a character" among the public, received overwhelming support from rank-and-file party members who are fed up with the control of the LDP by party seniors.
The winner-takes-all rules let Mr. Koizumi sweep preliminary votes even in regions that were thought to be Mr. Hashimoto's power bases. In fact, Mr. Koizumi's strong performance in the local voting virtually made Tuesday's election by LDP Diet members -- which is usually critical -- a mere formality. It apparently created an atmosphere in which attempts to turn the tables in a final vote by LDP Diet members would be seen as moves to thwart the popular will.