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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe got what he wanted out of his snap election call – an increased coalition majority that should make it easier to pass contentious legislation and more time to turn around the stumbling economy and pursue his nationalist ambitions. But Mr. Abe and his supporters may want to keep the celebratory sake in the bottle for a while longer.

True, his ruling coalition maintained its super-majority of more than two-thirds of the 475-seat lower house of the Diet, no mean feat in the middle of a renewed economic slump and falling approval ratings. But the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, was in such disarray that it failed to contest 110 seats. Its uninspiring leader, Banri Kaieda, lost his own seat and resigned. And the election did nothing to arrest waning public support for Mr. Abe and his agenda.

His Liberal Democratic Party actually lost a couple of seats to 291 (including an LDP-backed independent), while its small coalition partner, Komeito, added four seats, for a total of 35.

Frustration with policies that have not yielded tangible wage or other gains for most Japanese, coupled with perplexity about why they were being asked to go to the polls by a majority government with two years left in its mandate, translated into record-low voter turnout of just over 52 per cent.

Some of the protest vote ended up with the Japanese Communist Party, which shot up to 21 seats from 8, its best showing since 1996.

That's scarcely a strong vote of confidence in Mr. Abe or Abenomics, his vaunted effort to stimulate growth and end years of deflation through aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus and structural reforms designed to deregulate key segments of the economy, spur competition and overhaul the labour market.

Most of these essential reforms remain on the drawing board, and progress is likely to remain at a pace that would make snails look fast. Nor will the election result reduce entrenched opposition to change from powerful special interest groups and even members of Mr. Abe's own Liberal Democratic Party. Indeed, disaffected LDP members, who have questioned both the economic strategy and the Prime Minister's determination to push for changes in the country's pacifist constitution, still represent the biggest threat to his best-laid plans.

Mr. Abe stuck mainly to economics during the campaign, promising to get more money into workers' pockets. So far, the main beneficiaries of Abenomics have been major exporters, whose profits have soared thanks to the yen depreciation, and equity investors who cashed in on a big runup in stock prices.

Broader income growth, by contrast, has been missing in action. Real wages have fallen for 16 consecutive months, year over year, including a drop of 2.8 per cent in October, at a time when the cost of living has been driven up by the currency weakness, some food and other price inflation and the lingering effects of the April sales tax hike.

Mr. Abe has postponed a further sales tax hike from next October to 2017. But that's scarcely going to drive higher consumption from people facing falling incomes in the midst of a recession.

Japanese business leaders insist they will do their part to boost wages and allow suppliers to pass the extra costs up the food chain, but they expect to see productivity-boosting labour reforms from the government. Mr. Abe wants to see base pay increases in next spring's wage negotiations.

Business, labour and government officials sang the same tune last year. Let's see if this time will be different.

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