Prime Minister Shinzo Abe got a boost Sunday when two ruling Liberal Democratic Party candidates won by-elections for the Lower House.
Passing this test a month after being sworn in gives Abe's administration a much needed sense of stability.
Abe is now expected to push through the Diet such key bills as a revision of the Fundamental Law of Education.
"The voters have given power to the ruling coalition. I will do my best to steadily fulfill my policy pledges," Abe told LDP Secretary-General Hidenao Nakagawa by phone.
Following the early victory of Zentaro Kamei in the Kanagawa No. 16 district, Kenji Harada was declared the winner in the Osaka No. 9 district.
Also backed by junior coalition partner New Komeito, Harada, 58, a former Osaka prefectural assembly member, garnered 111,226 votes against 92,424 for former Diet member Nobumori Otani, 43, the candidate of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan).
Kuniaki Fujiki, 48, of the Japanese Communist Party obtained 17,774 votes. Voter turnout was 52.15 percent.
In Kanagawa, the LDP's Kamei, 35, also backed by New Komeito, got 109,464 votes.
Minshuto's Yuichi Goto, 37, a former economy ministry bureaucrat, garnered 80,450 votes, while the JCP's Takashi Kasaki, 60, trailed far behind with 9,862.
Voter turnout was a low 47.16 percent.
Seats in both districts were vacated after the deaths of LDP incumbents.
Along with the Abe administration's popularity, the ruling camp got a tailwind from the diplomatic front.
Abe visited China and South Korea just before the campaigns kicked off to mend ties tattered by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.
North Korea's nuclear test came just at that juncture, and Abe's firm stance against the reclusive state, along with the summits, won the voters' support, LDP officials say.
The election results dealt a blow to opposition Minshuto. Party officials wanted "at least one victory" to dampen Abe's momentum.
The losses cast a shadow over the leadership of President Ichiro Ozawa, known for his strength in elections, and may mar party unity.
Asahi Shimbun exit polls showed unaffiliated voters abstained in droves, allowing a gap in the two parties' organizational strengths to determine the election results.
At polling stations Sunday, the newspaper received valid responses from 1,573 voters in Kanagawa and 1,480 in Osaka.
While more than 30 percent of voters were unaffiliated in an opinion poll a week earlier, the ratio was 16 percent of those who voted in Kanagawa and 19 percent in Osaka.(IHT/Asahi: October 24,2006)
ASAHI WEEKLY