Our Elections are not the same as Yours (2)

Why do you need to know how the voting works? In order not to put too much weight on the particular person who happens to occupy the Prime Minister's office, that's why.

Mr. Abe has debts to his peers in office and to the groups who worked to give him a party majority in the lower house. He has to work within the parameters of (a) rule by the elected legislators in both houses, (b) his coalition partners' policies, and (c) public opinion. Add to this pressures exerted by foreign governments.

Therefore, it is not wise for newspapers (I'm thinking of the NY Times on Monday) to announce that because Mr. Abe is Prime Minister, Japan will do thus and so.

Japan has had some wonderful historical experiences with wise and powerful leaders (for instance, the Gentlemen of Japan in the Meiji Era and the shogun from Odawara Hojo Houn before that) and some truly awful ones with the foolish and strong. So, the brilliant leaders test their mettle against heavy checks and balances, and the borderline ones are held on the rails by those same checks and balances.

It works for us.

Our Elections are not like Yours

Sunday was election day in Japan. Voters all over Japan chose their representatives to the lower house. In Tokyo, we also chose the prefectural governor and a high court judge. However, it's the election of representatives that is the big news, because it means a change in the majority party--the one that will have the biggest say in Japan's governance.

Before people rush in to say what a landslide victory it was for Mr. Abe, our new Prime Minister, I hope they will take a look at some numbers.

Our elections are not like yours. We do not ever vote for a Prime Minister. We only vote for local representatives. Mr. Abe was elected from the fourth district of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yamaguchi is so small, it only has four electoral districts. Mr. Abe garnered a little more than 100,000 votes. (118,696 according to the evening newspapers)

So, why is Mr. Abe Prime Minister?

When Mr. Abe's party (Liberal Democratic Party aka LDP) held an in-house election for party president, he was chosen by the LDP members of Japan's lower house. That means he won another two hundred or so votes from his peers. The president of the majority party becomes Prime Minister, and after Sunday's election, the LDP is the majority party. So Mr. Abe will be Prime Minister.

Imagine: To become Prime Minister of a major country like Japan, you only have to be "liked" by 100,000 people, and be "liked" again by only half plus one of your own party members in congress.