Voters in Japan have ousted the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, ending fifty-five years of nearly uninterrupted rule. In elections on Sunday, the populist Democratic Party of Japan captured a record 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament. It was the worst election performance for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party since the party was founded in 1955. One analyst described the vote as a bloodless revolution, the first transfer of power from one party to another in postwar Japan. Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is expected to become Japan’s new prime minister. He is a longtime critic of Japan’s close relationship to the United States.

Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano: “The DPJ places more emphasis on Asia. It also places more emphasis on the UN framework as opposed to just following the US line. So, that seems to be the key difference, that they want to say that their policy alternatives are not just stick to the United States, but they’re going to build on the relationship with China, with other Asian neighbors, and also to try to work within the UN framework far more than in the LDP government.”

During the campaign, Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama questioned the role of the 50,000 American troops deployed throughout Japan and said he would not renew the mandate for Japanese ships on a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US-led military activities in Afghanistan. Hatoyama has also said Japan will stay nuclear-free under his leadership and that he will seek a US pledge not to bring nuclear-armed vessels into Japanese ports.