Japan

Coalition government agreed

Article published on the 2009-09-09 Latest update 2009-09-09 15:40 TU

Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama (C) bows to Mizuho Fukushima (R), leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, and Shizuka Kamei, leader of the conservative People's New Party, after signing a deal to form a coalition
(Photo: Reuters)

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) struck a coalition deal with two parties on Wednesday, allowing it to form a government after its election victory last month. The new partners agreed to reveiw the US military presence in the country.

"We now stand at the starting line of the new government," said Prime Minister elect Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ.

The party's new partners are the Social Democartic Party and the right-wing People's New Party.

The DPJ won a sweeping majority in the lower house on 30 August in a dramatic turnabout for Japanese politics. But it needs the smaller parties' support in the upper house, which can block or stall legislation.

The Social Democrats have long campaigned for a reduction in the 47,000 US troops based in the country.

"It is a viable coalition," says political analyst Takashi Inoguchi. "But  I think the basic difficulty of the DPJ is that the number of seats they have got in the lower house is too large, so they probably get self-confident a little too much and they start fighting among themselves."