Japan’s battered ruling party has just elected its third leader, and hence prime minister, in as many years. Yoshihiko Noda, who has been serving as finance minister for the past year, will take over from Naoto Kan, whose muted response to the devastating March 11 natural and nuclear disaster doomed his premiership.
It’s bad news for Noda that word of his selection was greeted with lacklustre support among the public, while the ruling Democratic Party of Japan is also slightly behind the opposition Liberal Democratic Party in an opinion poll this week by the Yomiuri Shimbun. That shouldn’t cheer the LDP, however, for both main parties received less than a quarter of public support, while nearly half the polled electorate favoured no party at all.
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