Fat government, slim hopes

WITH the opinion polls giving him high marks for his first term as prime minister and no rivals daring to challenge him, Ryutaro Hashimoto secured a second term as president of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on September 8th. As head of the largest political party in the Diet (parliament), Mr Hashimoto now gets another two years as prime minister. That ritual out of the way, he has got down to the real work of cutting the deals on who is to be in his new cabinet—and, more importantly, who should hold the three top posts in the party executive (see article).