The old joke about Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (ldp) is that it was neither liberal, democratic, nor even a proper party. Cobbled together from a ragbag of anti-socialist factions in the 1950s, the ldp nevertheless held together for over half a century before coming unstitched in 2009. Now, history seems to be repeating itself, as 14 different political parties have mobilised since Japan's prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, called a general election for December 16th.
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