Surveys predict majority for Kishida’s LDP in Japan elections
Tokyo, Oct 24 (EFE).- The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to win majority in the forthcoming general elections, according to the latest polls.
Surveys conducted by the Japanese media in the final stretch of the election campaign indicate that the LDP and its coalition partner, the Buddhist party Komeito, they will win at least 50 percent of the 465 seats of the lower house in the Oct.31 elections.
The ruling party would win 233 seats, and the Komeito would secure around 30, according to a survey conducted by the Kyodo agency.
In the recently dissolved legislature, the LDP and the Komeito had 276 and 29 seats respectively.
Another survey by the Nikkei newspaper gave the ruling coalition “a high probability” of securing more than 50 percent of the seats needed to form the government.
Neither of the polls suggested that the opposition bloc of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, led by Yukio Edano and allied with four other forces including the Communist Party of Japan, would improve its position from the 110 seats it held.
However, both polls said around 20-30 percent voters were still undecided, and showed an inclination to vote for new parties such as the progressive Reiwa Shinsengumi, led by the actor turned politician Taro Yamamoto or the nationalist Japan Innovation Party.
Another survey by Mainichi newspaper also indicated that the ruling coalition would be able to win at least the 233 seats needed to form a government, but it was not certain if it could win the 261 seats that would give it a “stable absolute majority.”
Parties that reach this number can chair all the committees in the lower house of the Japanese parliament and have a majority in each of these bodies.
If Kishida’s LDP and Komeito fail to achieve this stable absolute majority, it would be the first such setback for the ruling coalition since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s came to power in late 2012. EFE
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