Japan's new ruling Democratic Party has agreed to form a coalition with two small parties.
Party leaders are expected to formalise the agreement later in the day.
Despite a landslide victory in the 30 August poll for the parliament's lower house, Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan needs backing from the Social Democrats and the conservative People's New Party to ensure legislation can be enacted smoothly, since the upper house can delay bills.
The talks had hit a snag yesterday over how to word a call for changes to a planned redeployment of US Marines on Japan's southern island of Okinawa.
