The Democratic Party of Japan neared an agreement with two smaller parties Thursday on launching a coalition to push aside the outgoing Liberal Democrats, rein in the national bureaucracy and set a new course for the world's second-largest economy, AP reported. Yukio Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan and is expected to be installed as prime minister on Sept. 16, met with members of the smaller parties and officials said they were near a consensus on policy issues. Though the Democrats won an overwhelming majority in the lower house, the victorious party is expected to launch a coalition government as it lacks a simple majority in the upper house of parliament. The Democrats hold 117 of the 240 seats in the upper house. Japanese media said Thursday the Democrats have agreed with the two smaller parties on issues ranging from swine flu measures to child care and holding back on raising the national sales tax. The party won 308 of the 480 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament in Sunday's elections. The landslide victory ended decades of rule by outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party. -- SPA
