[h=3]By GEORGE NISHIYAMA[/h]
ReutersJapan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party's leader and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke to voters atop a campaign van on Saturday.
TOKYO—Japan's main opposition party is set to return to power following Sunday's election, media exit polls showed, as voters gave a resounding thumbs-down to three years of government led by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
The Liberal Democratic Party was projected to win a clear majority in the lower house, making it all but certain that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—a security hawk and a dove on monetary policy—would make a rare comeback as the nation's leader. As a sign of the ongoing instability in Japanese politics, Mr. Abe will be the country's sixth prime minister since he left the office in September 2007.
Of the 480 seats in the lower house, the LDP was expected to win as many as 310, up from the current 118, while the ruling DPJ, led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, was projected to only secure between 55 to 77, down from 230, according to the exit polls. The newly formed Japan Restoration Party, seeking to cast itself as a viable alternative to the two main parties, is projected to win up to 50 seats.
ReutersA woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Tokyo.
The LDP's victory, in line with media surveys ahead of Sunday, was largely seen as a rejection of the DPJ's three-year reign, rather than a full embrace of LDP policy. That was evident in the number of seats won in the proportional representation section of the election, where voters cast ballots for a party rather than a candidate.
Low turnout also suggested Japanese voters had less enthusiasm for all parties vying for support. Turnout was 41.77% as of 0900 GMT down from 48.40% at the same time in the previous election in 2009.
Miho Hoshi, a labor consultant in her late 30s, said she cast her ballot for the LDP in her district in Tokyo, but didn't have high hopes for the party. "It's not that I have such strong expectations for the LDP, but it's just better than others," the mother of a three-year-old said. Reflecting on the current DPJ-led government, Ms. Hoshi said, "It was politics that didn't move forward. We lost confidence of overseas countries as well."
Mr. Abe is expected to form a coalition with a longtime ally, the New Komeito Party, giving the LDP-led bloc a solid majority in the lower house, which can choose the prime minister and push through the budget. But the two parties combined will still be short of a majority in the upper house, meaning that they will need to win the support of other parties to enact most legislation, as well as parliamentary-approved appointments.
With no bloc controlling both houses of parliament, the LDP and the DPJ are already eyeing the upper house election slated to be held this summer, with the LDP hoping to grab a majority to secure smooth enactment of legislation. But if the LDP fails, the political paralysis that dogged the DPJ government is likely to continue.
Mr. Abe will take over the reins from Prime Minister Noda as Japan finds itself mired in an economic slump and a bitter territorial feud with China that further threatens the outlook for the world's third-largest economy. The election was the first since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's northeast, triggering the country's worst nuclear crisis.
The solid victory for the LDP gives Mr. Abe a strong mandate to push ahead with his agenda, including a call for aggressive monetary easing coupled with fiscal stimulus to beat deflation, as well as a tougher stance against Japan's neighbors over territorial disputes and a more assertive role for its military.
"It wouldn't be easy to rebuild the economy, diplomatic relations and the education system that have been left in ruins under the last three years of the DPJ rule. Strong leadership is required," Mr. Abe told a TV program on Saturday, the final day of campaigning. "You might think that I've grown too forceful and assertive, but without such strong commitments, economic recovery will never be accomplished."
Mr. Abe has stressed that the prolonged deflation as well as the yen's persistent strength were the culprits of the economy's problems, demanding that the Bank of Japan set a clear 2% inflation target instead of its current 1% inflation target, threatening a law revision to strip its independence unless the central bank complied. The strong calls for further monetary easing have caught the attention of global investors, pushing down the yen to a nine-month low and boosting Tokyo shares.
As one of his first acts, Mr. Abe will be able to nominate a new head of the Bank of Japan, as Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa's term expires in April. He may have trouble winning confirmation of that appointment, however, without a clear majority in the upper house.
The former prime minister has also said that despite Japan's ballooning debt, fiscal spending was necessary to lift the economy, and has called for the formulation of an extra spending package if he were to return to power.
On diplomacy and security issues, Mr. Abe, who was prime minister for a year until September 2007, has struck a hard line against China over a territorial spat involving an island chain in the East China Sea, proposing that Japan station officials on the islands now under its control.
Prime Minister Noda had tried to paint Mr. Abe as an irresponsible opposition leader, stressing that the heavily indebted country could no longer afford to go on a spending binge, and that simply taking a belligerent stance would further aggravate ties with Japan's neighbors.
But Mr. Noda failed to turn around the DPJ's fortunes. The passage earlier this year of a bill to double the sales tax to rein in the ballooning debt, despite a 2009 campaign promise not to raise the tax, had made the DPJ deeply unpopular with voters.
Despite the nuclear crisis set off by the March 2011 disaster, the future of atomic energy as well as the broader energy policy, failed to emerge as the top issue of the campaign, with media surveys showing that voters were most concerned about the economy.
A slew of other smaller parties, which had hoped that their calls for an exit from nuclear power or opposition to the planned sales tax would resonate with voters, all failed to turn themselves into a sizeable presence.
—Kana Inagaki contributed to this article.Write to George Nishiyama at [email protected]
TOKYO—Japan's main opposition party is set to return to power following Sunday's election, media exit polls showed, as voters gave a resounding thumbs-down to three years of government led by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
The Liberal Democratic Party was projected to win a clear majority in the lower house, making it all but certain that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—a security hawk and a dove on monetary policy—would make a rare comeback as the nation's leader. As a sign of the ongoing instability in Japanese politics, Mr. Abe will be the country's sixth prime minister since he left the office in September 2007.
Of the 480 seats in the lower house, the LDP was expected to win as many as 310, up from the current 118, while the ruling DPJ, led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, was projected to only secure between 55 to 77, down from 230, according to the exit polls. The newly formed Japan Restoration Party, seeking to cast itself as a viable alternative to the two main parties, is projected to win up to 50 seats.
ReutersA woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Tokyo.
The LDP's victory, in line with media surveys ahead of Sunday, was largely seen as a rejection of the DPJ's three-year reign, rather than a full embrace of LDP policy. That was evident in the number of seats won in the proportional representation section of the election, where voters cast ballots for a party rather than a candidate.
Low turnout also suggested Japanese voters had less enthusiasm for all parties vying for support. Turnout was 41.77% as of 0900 GMT down from 48.40% at the same time in the previous election in 2009.
Miho Hoshi, a labor consultant in her late 30s, said she cast her ballot for the LDP in her district in Tokyo, but didn't have high hopes for the party. "It's not that I have such strong expectations for the LDP, but it's just better than others," the mother of a three-year-old said. Reflecting on the current DPJ-led government, Ms. Hoshi said, "It was politics that didn't move forward. We lost confidence of overseas countries as well."
Mr. Abe is expected to form a coalition with a longtime ally, the New Komeito Party, giving the LDP-led bloc a solid majority in the lower house, which can choose the prime minister and push through the budget. But the two parties combined will still be short of a majority in the upper house, meaning that they will need to win the support of other parties to enact most legislation, as well as parliamentary-approved appointments.
With no bloc controlling both houses of parliament, the LDP and the DPJ are already eyeing the upper house election slated to be held this summer, with the LDP hoping to grab a majority to secure smooth enactment of legislation. But if the LDP fails, the political paralysis that dogged the DPJ government is likely to continue.
Mr. Abe will take over the reins from Prime Minister Noda as Japan finds itself mired in an economic slump and a bitter territorial feud with China that further threatens the outlook for the world's third-largest economy. The election was the first since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's northeast, triggering the country's worst nuclear crisis.
The solid victory for the LDP gives Mr. Abe a strong mandate to push ahead with his agenda, including a call for aggressive monetary easing coupled with fiscal stimulus to beat deflation, as well as a tougher stance against Japan's neighbors over territorial disputes and a more assertive role for its military.
"It wouldn't be easy to rebuild the economy, diplomatic relations and the education system that have been left in ruins under the last three years of the DPJ rule. Strong leadership is required," Mr. Abe told a TV program on Saturday, the final day of campaigning. "You might think that I've grown too forceful and assertive, but without such strong commitments, economic recovery will never be accomplished."
Mr. Abe has stressed that the prolonged deflation as well as the yen's persistent strength were the culprits of the economy's problems, demanding that the Bank of Japan set a clear 2% inflation target instead of its current 1% inflation target, threatening a law revision to strip its independence unless the central bank complied. The strong calls for further monetary easing have caught the attention of global investors, pushing down the yen to a nine-month low and boosting Tokyo shares.
As one of his first acts, Mr. Abe will be able to nominate a new head of the Bank of Japan, as Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa's term expires in April. He may have trouble winning confirmation of that appointment, however, without a clear majority in the upper house.
The former prime minister has also said that despite Japan's ballooning debt, fiscal spending was necessary to lift the economy, and has called for the formulation of an extra spending package if he were to return to power.
On diplomacy and security issues, Mr. Abe, who was prime minister for a year until September 2007, has struck a hard line against China over a territorial spat involving an island chain in the East China Sea, proposing that Japan station officials on the islands now under its control.
Prime Minister Noda had tried to paint Mr. Abe as an irresponsible opposition leader, stressing that the heavily indebted country could no longer afford to go on a spending binge, and that simply taking a belligerent stance would further aggravate ties with Japan's neighbors.
But Mr. Noda failed to turn around the DPJ's fortunes. The passage earlier this year of a bill to double the sales tax to rein in the ballooning debt, despite a 2009 campaign promise not to raise the tax, had made the DPJ deeply unpopular with voters.
Despite the nuclear crisis set off by the March 2011 disaster, the future of atomic energy as well as the broader energy policy, failed to emerge as the top issue of the campaign, with media surveys showing that voters were most concerned about the economy.
A slew of other smaller parties, which had hoped that their calls for an exit from nuclear power or opposition to the planned sales tax would resonate with voters, all failed to turn themselves into a sizeable presence.
—Kana Inagaki contributed to this article.Write to George Nishiyama at [email protected]