Koizumi landslide

The snap elections had been a calculated gamble on the part of Koizumi, following the defeat in the upper house of the Diet, with the help of rebel LDP lawmakers, of his bill to privatise Japan's giant postal system (which also operates banking services). Its $3 trillion in assets have long been used as a back door for old-guard lawmakers to finance projects in their own constituencies.

Koizumi's message to the voters was simply stated and simply understood. The election was a virtual referendum on Koizumi and his reform agenda. The entire process has been a credit to Japan, and stands as a fine example of how representative democracy should work.

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The upshot of his landslide win is that he now has a mandate for reform, and has also succeeded in shaking up the moribund LDP old guard which had dominated politics for decades. The process was dynamic and spontaneous, and the elections were held in less than three weeks, with a minimum of confusion or fuss.

This is democracy as it should be. The old horse-traders and vested interests swept out in favour of new faces who better represent the will of the people.

As always, there are down-sides to the election result. The decimation of the opposition DPJ has moved further away the day that Japan will be a fully functioning two party democracy. Surely, Koizumi will have to use his new-found power to meet the higher aspirations of the electorate, strengthen internal democracy within LDP and reach out to the opposition when the national interest so demands.

There is an underlying message in this for Bangladesh. One and a half years before our next elections, the entire process is mired in chaos and uncertainty. We should take heed of democracy functioning elsewhere in the way it ought to here. The challenge for us is to make our democracy smooth, efficient, and responsive. The benefits of mature democracy are incalculable.