Kan Election Loss May Impede Effort to Cut Japan Debt
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Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan lost control of parliament’s upper house, undermining legislative efforts to cut the world’s largest public debt and creating the possibility of a third leadership change in a year.
The ruling Democratic Party of Japan won 44 seats, compared with 51 for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, according to results compiled by public broadcaster NHK. Your Party, a new group founded by former LDP cabinet minister Yoshimi Watanabe, won 10. Half of the 242 seats in the less powerful of Japan’s two houses of parliament were up for grabs.