Conservatives Win the Parliamentary Elections in Australia and Japan

           The center-right ruling party in Australia lost seats, but retained its majority in the Australian parliamentary elections.  It won a slight majority, but will partner with a smaller nationalist party that gained a seat.  The new coalition will be able to continue the policies of the current government.  Australia has been a strong ally of the United States against terrorism.  

           The ruling center-right party easily won the Japanese parliamentary elections.  The results provide a mandate to Japan’s conservative government to amend the pacifist post-war constitution to give Japan a freer hand to respond more assertively to military threats, such as by Communist China and North Korea, and to contribute more directly to international peacekeeping.  Japan has been an American ally against Communism.