Japan's politics haven't been as volatile as Europe's, but there too a majority has emerged, one with major implications for East Asia.
SCMP: Japan’s ruling bloc wins landslide in upper house election, exit polls show. The subheading is:
PM Abe’s LDP gets simple majority for first time since 1989What happened in 1989 in Japan? Japanese social mood peaked and then entered a three-decade depression. This election is a big red flag, signaling that trend could be over/ending.
The signal will be stronger if the win delivers more than a simply majority:
Some of the exit polls also showed Abe’s coalition and like-minded parties had won the two-thirds “super majority” needed to try to revise the post-war constitution for the first time, though others only said the threshold was within reach.The vote totals aren't final though. Japan's ruling bloc wins big in Upper House election
As of midnight local time (11pm Singapore time), the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito won 66 of the 121 seats up for grabs.Whether or not the supermajority comes through, the trend is evident. I expect to see similar results across the developed world in the coming years, either in response to the depression (think 1930s) or as mood turns up (think early 1980s).
Add that to the bloc's 76 seats not being contested this time round, and it has a total of 142 seats in the 242-member chamber. Together with other allies, it holds 156 seats, with seven yet to be determined.
This puts Mr Abe within striking distance of the 162 seats he needs to win a two-thirds supermajority, to push for a national referendum to revise the Constitution.
Update: The coalition has the supermajority. Japan's ruling bloc wins landslide in upper house election
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