ABSTRACT
The LDP emerged from the 1996 election as the largest party but without a majority in either house of the Diet. Both of the LDP's coalition partners, the SDP and Sakigake, had been devastated by the electoral result. The LDP may be able to gain a bare majority over the next several months by picking up defectors’. That is precisely what happened and on 5 September 1997 the LDP achieved a majority in the Lower House. The Miyagi story begins in 1989 when the five-term LDP incumbent, an ex-bureaucrat and ex-vice-governor retired. In December the NFP held its second election for party leader. The LDP entered the House of Councillors election determined to regain a majority in that house as it had in the House of Representatives. In March 2000, Ozawa approached Obuchi with a plan to dissolve both the LDP and the Liberals in order to form a new conservative party.
