Abe on course for landslide win in Japan: Survey
Tokyo, Oct. 16: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on track for a landslide win in Japan’s upcoming election, the latest survey suggested on Monday, as a new party founded by Tokyo’s popular governor loses momentum.
Mr Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is projected to win as many as 303 of the 465 seats up for grabs in the October 22 election, according to a poll by the Mainichi Shimbun.
Its junior coalition partner Komeito is expected to gain more than 30 seats, allowing Abe’s ruling camp to have a comfortable two-thirds majority in the powerful lower house, the poll suggested.
A two-thirds majority in parliament would allow Mr Abe, 63, to push through an amendment to Japan’s pacifist constitution.
The hawkish premier has called for changes to the US-imposed law so Japan can turn its selfdefence forces into a fullfledged army.
Support for Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s newly founded Party of Hope, which has transformed Japan’s political landscape and swallowed up the main opposition Democratic Party, appears to be declining, with surveys predicting it might win up to 54 seats.
After an initial burst of support for the mediasavvy Ms Koike, critics say the Tokyo governor has suffered by not running herself in the election, meaning voters for her party are not sure who they are electing as PM.
“Expectations were high but the Party of Hope has nothing but Koike’s popularity,” said Koji Nakakita, professor of politics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
“Support for Abe’s cabinet is not so high but voters have no choice but to vote for Mr Abe’s LDP,” Nakakita told AFP, with the opposition parties facing “confusion and divisions.”