The victory of a candidate backed by the Democratic Party of Japan in the gubernatorial election in Nagano Prefecture on Sunday must have come as relief to Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the leadership of the DPJ, because it represents the DPJ's first major local election victory since the July 11 Upper House election, in which it suffered a major defeat. But it was a narrow win. The DPJ should not feel too optimistic about its future prospects.
Mr. Shuichi Abe, also backed by the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party), defeated Mr. Yoshimasa Koshihara backed by the Liberal Democratic Party with a margin of just 5,021 votes — 362,903 votes vs. 357,882 votes. Mr. Takeshi Matsumoto backed by the Japan Communist Party trailed far behind the two with 189,793.
That Mr. Abe had to fight an uphill battle becomes clear if his vote is compared with the DPJ's votes in the Upper House election. On July 11, two DPJ district candidates together got some 510,000 votes against the LDP candidate's some 290,000 votes. In proportional representation, the DPJ won some 400,000 votes against the LDP's some 250,000 votes.