Not so magnificent

THE Liberal Democratic Party, the head of Japan's ruling coalition, has been reeling this year from scandals that forced some of its most prominent members of parliament to resign. Partly as a result, voters turned against LDP-backed candidates in several local contests earlier this year, electing or nearly electing outsiders as mayors and governors. These upstarts tapped into voters' disgust by running without party ties or as members of the small but independent-minded Communists. Yet as Japan prepares for a series of parliamentary by-elections on October 27th, the ruling coalition has done little to clean up its act.