Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has resigned as chief of the Democratic Party of Japan to take responsibility for the party’s loss in parliamentary elections. The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party won between 275 and 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament in today’s election, NHK exit polls projected. The DPJ was expected to capture less than 100 seats, far below its pre-election strength of 230.
Noda called the results ‘extremely severe’ at a late night news conference, and said that the party lawmakers would hold a meeting as soon as possible to pick a new leader.
A directionless three years under three different prime ministers, who oversaw a series of policy flip-flops, undermined the promise of change the DPJ brought when it came to victory in 2009. Weak leadership and vicious factional infighting saw the party splinter, testing the patience of voters who were less than impressed with the sometimes confused response to the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima atomic plant.
Noda called the results ‘extremely severe’ at a late night news conference, and said that the party lawmakers would hold a meeting as soon as possible to pick a new leader.
A directionless three years under three different prime ministers, who oversaw a series of policy flip-flops, undermined the promise of change the DPJ brought when it came to victory in 2009. Weak leadership and vicious factional infighting saw the party splinter, testing the patience of voters who were less than impressed with the sometimes confused response to the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima atomic plant.