Sun 27 October 2024:

Voting began Sunday in Japan’s general election as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is seeking a new mandate amid scrutiny about political fund scandals within the ruling party.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), alongside its coalition partner, Komeito, wants to keep its majority in the 465-member House of Representatives.

Media polls, however, show them facing a tough challenge, according to Tokyo-based Kyodo News.

Voters will cast two ballots — one for single-seat constituency candidates and another for party proportional representation. Election results are expected by early Monday.

More than 1,300 candidates are vying for the 465 seats, including 289 in single-seat constituencies and 176 in proportional representation.

Ishiba, 67, took office on October 1, replacing his predecessor Fumio Kishida who resigned after an outcry over slush fund practices among LDP legislators. Ishiba immediately announced a snap election in hopes of shoring up more support.

But the LDP is facing potentially its worst result since 2009 – possibly leading Japan into political uncertainty, though a change of government was unexpected.

Ishiba has set a goal of retaining 233 seats for the ruling coalition between the LDP and its Buddhist-backed junior partner Komeito, a majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.

In his final campaign speeches on Saturday, Ishiba apologised for his party’s mishandling of funds and pledged “to restart as an equal, fair, humble and honest party”. He said only the LDP’s ruling coalition can run Japan with its experience and dependable policies.

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Ruling party likely to lose parliamentary majority

New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) facing potentially their worst result since 2009 over a funding scandal and inflation.

The LDP and its longtime partner Komeito are likely to lose their comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament in Sunday’s election, opinion polls suggest.

Voters in the world’s fourth-largest economy have been rankled by rising prices and the fallout from a party slush fund scandal that helped sink previous premier Fumio Kishida.

“I made my decision first and foremost by looking at their economic policies and measures to ease inflation,” Tokyo voter Yoshihiro Uchida, 48, told AFP on Sunday. “I voted for people who are likely to make our lives better.”

Japan’s biggest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), meanwhile, is expected to make significant gains. Its centrist leader, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, said Sunday’s election is a rare chance for a change of government.

Local media speculated that Ishiba could potentially even resign immediately to take responsibility, becoming Japan’s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.

The current record is held by Naruhiko Higashikuni who served for 54 days – four days more than British leader Liz Truss in 2022 – just after Japan’s 1945 defeat in World War II.

Analysts suggest Ishiba could fall short of reaching his target, though his LDP was expected to remain the top party in Japan’s parliament as voters are sceptical about the opposition’s ability and experience.

Ishiba’s party is also being tested to break the legacy of the late Premier Shinzo Abe. Abe’s policies focused on security, trade and industry but largely ignored equality and diversity, and his nearly eight-year tenure led to the corruption, experts say.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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