Abe's next act

摘要

RARELY has such an unpopular leader won a free and fair election so lopsidedly. Only about one-third of Japanese people approve of Shinzo Abe, their prime minister; a whopping 51% disapprove. Yet on October 22nd his Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner kept its two-thirds majority in the lower house (see page 23). Mr Abe's decision to call a snap election, unlike that of Theresa May, his British counterpart, paid off handsomely.