Apathetic Voters Back Conservatives

With yawning indifference, Japanese voters restored the country’s most conservative party to a near-majority in the national parliament Sunday, choosing to take a step back toward the political order they rejected three years ago.

The Liberal Democratic Party, toppled from four decades of one-party rule in 1993, won 239 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament. That is just shy of a majority, but enough to ensure that Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will stay in office.

But the victory was far from inspiring. Voter turnout was considerably lower than at any time since World War II.