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Yoshihiko Noda compared himself to a loach, an unattractive, bottom-feeding fish, when he was appointed Japanese prime minister less than 13 months ago. He was proud of the fish's qualities to handle the muck.

His surprise announcement to dissolve the lower house on Dec 16 has left his Democratic Party of Japan in chaos and caused an exodus of its lawmakers, with nine quitting the ruling party on Thursday and Friday in protest over Noda's decision.

This means the DPJ - with 239 seats - no longer has a majority in the 480-seat lower house, going into the election.