The victory of a candidate of the Democratic Party of Japan over a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's Lower House by-election in the Yamaguchi No. 2 constituency has raised a question mark over Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's political leadership. The DPJ candidate trounced the LDP candidate by a margin of about 22,000 votes in the first election for a Diet seat since the inauguration of the Fukuda administration seven months ago.

In additional to the ruling bloc's plan to resurrect the surcharge on the gasoline tax, which expired March 31, the newly inaugurated health insurance scheme for people aged 75 and over became a major electoral issue. The new health insurance scheme raised the ire of many voters. Some people did not get new health insurance certificates in time, and deductions of premiums from pension benefits to fund the new health insurance plan began the same day that the election campaign officially kicked off.

Mr. Fukuda and other ruling bloc officials failed to convince voters of the need to have a separate health insurance scheme for elderly people. A Kyodo News telephone poll of voters in the constituency shows that 78 percent of the polled want the government to change it. Many people also believe that the ruling bloc failed to show sincerity in devising and explaining the new health insurance plan. Mr. Fukuda and other ruling bloc leaders also need to realize that people still harbor feelings of distrust toward the government due to its mismanagement of some 50 million pension premium payment records.