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On election day, an optimistic Nakasone posed for pictures performing the traditional tea ceremony, then awaited results at his official residence in Tokyo. At party headquarters, smiles soon dissolved into frowns: returns from the countryside, where the L.D.P. is strongest, were not as favorable as expected. By the time the ballots from the cities had been counted Monday afternoon, the leaders knew the worst. Said Nakasone: "It was a great criticism from the people."
As it turned out, the popular vote was not so damning. The L.D.P. drew 45.8%, down from a record 47.9% in the last election in 1980 but still about the average percentage for the party over the past five elections. The Komeito picked up 10.1%, only a slight improvement over its 1980 total of 9%, while the Socialists bettered their performance by an even smaller margin (19.5% to 19.3%). Nakasone, on the other hand, did not even come in first in his own Gumma prefecture, north of Tokyo: for the fifth straight election, he finished second in the three-seat district to former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, a rival L.D.P. boss.
The Prime Minister's first major test is likely to come from within his own party. The problem: how to handle Tanaka. While many L.D.P. members believe that Tanaka deserves blame for the party's poor showing, the "Shadow Shogun" lost little of his strength. His faction, now 62 members, lost only four seats, and his support is crucial if Nakasone is to remain in office. So far, Nakasone's only concrete concession to anti-Tanaka forces has been a promise to establish a political-ethics committee in the lower house. But since Tanaka insists that he will take his seat in the new Diet, pressures to deal with the problem could build in coming weeks. Says a Fukuda lieutenant: "We went into the campaign without solving the Tanaka question. We now have to decide within the party what to do about it."
At week's end, Nakasone issued a statement, approved by other L.D.P. leaders, in which he promised to "eliminate completely" Tanaka's influence in the party. The opposition dismissed the gesture as cosmetic. Yet even if Nakasone survives the political sharpshooting within his party, he still faces an election next November to retain the L.D.P. leadership. Last week's defeat may return to haunt him then—as Nakasone well knows. In 1979, when the L.D.P. lost only one seat, several members loudly demanded the resignation of then Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira. Among the most vociferous: Yasuhiro Nakasone.
—By James Kelly. Reported by Edwin M. Reingold/Tokyo and Barrett Seaman/Washington