As widely expected, Japan Prime Minister Abe's ruling coalition is set for a sweeping victory in Sunday's general election, and may retain the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed to revise Japan's constitution, according to an NHK exit poll.
Shinzo Abe during an election campaign rally in Tokyo, on Oct. 21
Almost exactly ten years ago, on September 12, 2007 Japan's current prime minister Shinzo Abe resigned less than a year into a tenure dogged by scandals, the suicide of a minister, a raft of resignations and corruption allegations, and a humiliating election drubbing for his Liberal Democratic Party. Never one to shrink away from resposibility, Abe blamed it on crippling diarrhea:
On Sunday Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered what Reuters called a "historic defeat" in the Tokyo assembly election, and "plunged into a crisis" after losing to an upstart outfit in an vote that is seen as a harbinger for Japan's national elections, and signaling trouble ahead for the premier who has suffered from slumping support after a series of political scandals.