Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro delivered on his promise to revive the fortunes of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last weekend. LDP candidates steamrollered their opposition, claiming 64 of the 121 seats that were contested in Sunday’s Upper House ballot. After an independent candidate joined the LDP on Monday, the LDP had upped its total number of seats by four, and its three-party coalition holds a comfortable majority with 140 places in the 247-seat House of Councilors.