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Coalition Politics in Japan Fact sheet released by the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs U.S. Department of State, June 26, 2000

After June 25, 2000 Lower House Diet elections, the coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Komeito and the Conservative Party retained its majority in the influential House of Representatives (Lower House of the Diet) and in the House of the Councillors (Upper House of the Diet). The cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori of the LDP, includes one Conservative Party member, Transportation Minister Toshihiro Nikai, one Komeito member, Management and Coordination Agency Minister Kunihiro Tsuzuki, and one non-politician, Economic Planning Agency Director-General Taichi Sakaiya. All other seats in the Cabinet are held by LDP politicians.

The LDP enjoyed single-party rule from 1955 until mid-1993, when the government passed to a multi-party coalition led by Morihiro Hosokawa of the (now-defunct) Japan New Party. Tsutomu Hata succeeded Hosokawa in April 1994, but Hata's minority coalition government lasted only two months. In June 1994, the LDP returned to power as part of a coalition with the then-Japan Socialist Party (now known as the Social Democratic Party, SDP) and the New Party Sakigake. The coalition government was headed by Socialist Party Chairman Tomiichi Murayama, who served as prime minister for one-and-a-half years before stepping down in favor of the LDP's Ryutaro Hashimoto.

The SDP and Sakigake left the coalition following poor performances in the October 1996 general (Lower House) election, but continued to cooperate with the Hashimoto administration until the run-up to the July 1998 Upper House election. Having reconstituted a majority in the Lower House through defections from the now-defunct New Frontier Party (NFP), the LDP succeeded in managing the Diet on its own through ad hoc alliances with individual opposition parties. Hashimoto stepped down after the July 1998 Upper House election in favor of Keizo Obuchi. In January 1999, the LDP formed a coalition with the Liberal Party. After bringing the Komeito into government in October, the Obuchi cabinet reconstituted a majority in the Upper House. After Obuchi's sudden illness in April 2000, Obuchi was replaced as LDP President and Prime Minister by Yoshiro Mori. Also in April 2000, after formally pulling out of the coalition, the Liberal Party split, leaving about half of its former members in government under the banner of the Conservative Party. In June 2000 Lower House elections, the governing three-party coalition of the LDP, Komeito and Conservative Party maintained its majority and retained Yoshiro Mori as prime minister.

Current party strength in the Diet (as of June 2000) is as follows:

Party	Lower House	Upper House
LDP	233	107
Komeito/Reform	31	24
Conservative Party	7	6
Democrats (DPJ)	127	55
Liberal Party	22	5
Communist	20	23
SDP	19	12
Other/Independents	21	10
TOTAL	480	252

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