Ruling coalition wins Japanese lower house election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 10, 2003

Ruling coalition wins Japanese lower house election

Japan's ruling coalition led by Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday jointly won a majority in the lower house's general election.

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Ruling coalition wins Japanese lower house election

Japan's ruling coalition led by Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday jointly won a majority in the lower house's general election.

According to NHK television, total voting for the election completed at 2:15 a.m. (1715 GMT). The ruling coalition has gaineda total of 275 seats of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives.

The ruling coalition exceeded the required half of the total lower house seats in the election, which started Sunday morning. But the LDP lost majority in the lower house for certain at a gainof only 237 seats so far.

The biggest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won 177 seats.

Although the DPJ failed to reach its target for 190 seats in the lower house, nobody doubts that DPJ is becoming the biggest rival of the LDP in terms of the number of seats it seizes.

The Japanese Communist Party (JCP), which held 20 seats before the election, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which held 18,also suffered major setbacks. The two parties only won nine and six seats respectively so far.

The LDP held 247 seats before the election, while the two junior coalition partners -- the New Komeito party and the New Conservative Party -- together held 40, which won 34 and four seats in Sunday's election.

Koizumi, who assumed the premiership in April 2001, will stay in office at least until his term as LDP president expires in September 2006. The four-year term of lower house members will last until 2007.

Three months after he took office as prime minister, Koizumi led the ruling coalition to victory in the House of Councilors election in July 2001.

The LDP has been in power almost continuously since 1955.

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