ELECTION WATCH: The next election for the House of Representatives (the lower house of parliament) is not due until August 2013, and the Economist Intelligence Unit believes that Mr Noda is unlikely to call a poll in the near future, given the risk that the DPJ would lose seats in the legislature. So far Mr Noda has failed to tackle the daunting challenges facing Japan's economy; success in this area would help to secure the position of the DPJ as a viable long-term alternative party of government to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which is currently in opposition but which previously held power continuously for more than 50 years until 2009. Thus, it is possible that voters could return to the LDP in the next election. However, current signs are that forces outside the two main parties are gaining popularity. Many of these are movements led by charismatic political personalities such as the maverick mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto. It is hard to envisage a situation in which these fledgling parties gather sufficient momentum to break the parliamentary stranglehold of the traditional parties, but it is noteworthy that the LDP's public approval rating has remained low despite voters' concerns about the DPJ's effectiveness in government. The LDP's poor rating partly reflects its generally obstructionist approach in parliament.

Source: Japan: Country outlook

Source: EIU Country Data