Japanese Coalition Splits After 4 Years

Japan’s governing coalition officially broke up Monday ahead of parliamentary elections this summer, bringing an end to a four-year alliance.

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto accepted the decision of the Social Democratic Party and the New Party Harbinger to withdraw from the government.

Hashimoto’s Liberal Democratic Party already has assumed all Cabinet posts and enjoys a majority in the more powerful of Japan’s two legislative chambers, so the coalition’s demise was seen as unlikely to have much impact on the government.

It ended an oddball marriage between the conservative Liberal Democrats and the left-leaning Social Democrats, formerly Japan’s Socialist Party. Previous to linking up, the two parties had been political enemies for most of the post-World War II era.