The Hindu : Miscellaneous / This Day That Age : dated March 2, 1955: Japan election results

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Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - This Day That Age

dated March 2, 1955: Japan election results

Japan's new Democratic Party, led by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ichiro Hatoyama, was returned to power on February 28 in the general elections for the Lower House of Parliament - but without an absolute majority. Final unofficial returns gave his party 185 seats in the 467-member House. His Socialist opponents gained 156 seats. The party position was: Liberals 112, Left Socialists 89, Right Socialists 67, Labour Farmer Party four, Communists two, minor parties and Independents eight. The returns are, however, subject to official confirmation. Observers in Tokyo said that the nation had evidently approved of Mr. Hatoyama's rapprochement policy with Russia and trade with Communist China and closer relations with the Asian countries. But his move for rearmament might be successfully blocked by the Socialist group which has more than a one-third majority. It was stated that even a mass movement of Liberals to the Democratic Party would not give 72-year-old Hatoyama the two-thirds majority he needs to eliminate from the present Constitution the clause banning rearmament. The votes showed that the strength of the Socialists is steadily increasing - a trend that has been evident in successive post-war elections. Another feature was the election of prominent members of Japan's war-time forces. The Liberals were the most powerful at the time of the dissolution of Parliament last month.

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