His coalition went into the election with a lock on power, and did not lose any seats. Yet the outcome of Japan's upper-house election on July nth embarrassed Junichiro Koizumi. The prime minister's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 49 seats: two short of its minimum election target and, more embarrassing, one seat less than the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The LDP'S weak result followed a sharp slide in Mr Koizumi's popularity in recent weeks. He rushed a scandal-tainted pension bill through parliament, and then agreed, without any debate, to affiliate Japan's troops in Iraq with a new multinational force. These decisions reinforced a growing public sense that Mr Koizumi-whose reputation as a tough-talking maverick made him wildly popular three years ago—has grown arrogant and out of touch.
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