The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan have held their party conventions and adopted policy programs for 2007, setting the stage for July's Upper House election, which will decide the future course of Japan. While the prelude for the watershed political battle has started, each side has its own weakness and problems.
The latest Kyodo News poll held on Jan. 12 and 13 showed the popularity rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration at 45 percent, down 20 percentage points from the rating just after its inauguration in late September. Such factors as readmission into the LDP of lawmakers who opposed postal service privatization in the September 2005 general elections as well as the resignations of Tax Commission head Mr. Masaaki Honma over a scandal and of administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata over irregularities in his support group's political funds reports have cast a cloud over the trustworthiness of Mr. Abe as a political leader.
Still, the troubles facing the Abe administration are not necessarily helping the DPJ. While the LDP's popularity rating has slipped from 44.6 percent (Dec. 5 and 6 poll) to 41.9 percent, the DPJ has also suffered a setback. Its popularity rating dropped from 20.3 percent to 15.4 percent.