Japan’s opposition has increased its lead over Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso’s long-ruling party, opinion polls showed yesterday, suggesting it was on course for a landslide win in this weekend’s election.
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), seeking to end half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), could win more than 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house in tomorrow’s election, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
The daily, which questioned more than 85,000 voters in a telephone poll from Tuesday to Thursday, said there was a “strong likelihood of a change of government,” with the LDP unable to stop the “DPJ’s overwhelming momentum.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The advance of the center-left DPJ, led by Yukio Hatoyama, reflects voters’ dissatisfaction with the LDP and the leadership of gaffe-prone Aso amid tough economic times.
New data yesterday showed that employment had risen to a post-war high of 5.7 percent in July, in the latest set of bleak numbers for the government.
Reflecting high public interest in the landmark poll, more than 3 million voters had cast early ballots by the end of Sunday, a week before the poll, the latest figures by the internal affairs ministry showed.
The number was up 52 percent from the same period in the last general election in 2005, in which the ruling party scored a historic win under popular former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi with high voter turnout of 67.5 percent.
Other polls yesterday also showed the DPJ strongly ahead.
Polling by Kyodo news agency on Wednesday and Thursday found that 35.9 percent of respondents would give their votes to the DPJ in the proportional representation part of the vote, compared with 17.9 percent for the LDP.
In the vote for individual candidates, 36 percent said they would vote for Democratic Party candidates and 22.6 percent for Liberal Democrat candidates.
Also See: Japan’s jobless rate hits record ahead of election
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