Voting in parliamentary election starts in Japan

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Voting in parliamentary election starts in Japan

(Xinhua\Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-29 10:20

People fill in their ballot papers for a Japanese upper house election at
a polling station in Tokyo July 29, 2007. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made
a last-ditch effort on Saturday to woo voters ahead of an upper house
election in which his ruling bloc looks set to lose its majority, a
result that could cost him his job. [Reuters]

TOKYO - Voting began Sunday morning in Japan's upper house election, the
first national election since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formed his
cabinet in September.

Voting started at 7:00 a.m. (2200 GMT, Saturday) across Japan and ends at
8:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) in most stations.

The election for half the seats in parliament's 242-member upper house
comes just 10 months after Abe, 52, took over and pledged to bolster
Japan's global security profile, rewrite its U.S.-drafted constitution
and nurture economic growth.

According to recent media surveys, Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) is fighting an uphill battle to maintain majority, while major
opposition Democratic Party of Japan seems to have gathered momentum to
fight for the controlling power in the House of Councilors.

Half of the seats in the upper chamber are up for grabs every three years
in Japan. A total of 377 candidates are contesting for 121 seats at stake
this time.

Of the 121 seats, 73 are from single- or multi-seat prefectural
constituencies and the rest 48 are from the national proportional
representation block.

Before Sunday's election, the ruling coalition of the LDP and the New
Komeito party jointly held 133 seats. Of the total, 57 seats and another
of a pro-LDP independent are uncontested this time. Thus the two parties
need to secure at least 64 seats to control the upper house.

According to the ministry of internal affairs, some 8.82 million absentee
ballots have been cast as of Friday. The number of eligible voters in
Japan stands at around 104 million.

As the ruling coalition has a commanding majority in the lower house of
the parliament, a failure to maintain majority in the upper house would
not immediately reverse the political picture. However, losing the battle
would definitely add pressure to Abe, whose support rate has been
dropping due to pension-recording errors, as well as scandals and
controversial remarks involving his cabinet ministers.

In 1998, the then prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was forced to resign
after suffering a major setback in the election. Japan's top government
spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki suggested Friday that Abe does not intend to
step down even the election turned out to be a defeat for the governing
bloc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 

Top World News 

� Soyuz, shuttle cited in drinking reports

� Bombing, mosque riot rock Islamabad

� 4 dead in Phoenix chopper collision

� Taliban: Some Korean hostages sick

� Violence at reopened Pakistan mosque

Today's Top News 

� Dalai Lama urged to abandon secessionist

� US to curb Iran with Gulf army deal

� Illgal charges add fuel to house prices

� Japan starts parliamentary election vote

� Taliban: Some Korean hostages sick

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

20071125 http://www.hellomandarin.net