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Polls: Opposition wins landslide in Japan election

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-30 19:42

LDP EMASCULATED

The TV Asahi exit poll showed the LDP on track to win just over 100 seats, down from 300. Its partner, the New Komeito Party, was expected to win 23 seats. The Democratic Party had just 115 seats in the last lower house.

Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, 62, the wealthy grandson of a former prime minister, spoke in sweeping terms on Saturday when he said the election would change Japanese history.

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He has often invoked the word "change" during the campaign, a theme that came up time and again in interviews with voters on Sunday. Many were prepared to give the DPJ a chance even if they were unsure the party's platform would truly help Japan emerge from its worst recession in 60 years.

"I don't like what's going on now in this country. Things have to change," said Kazuya Tsuda, a 78-year-old retired doctor in Tokyo who voted for the Democratic Party.

The Democrats have pledged to refocus spending on households with child allowances and aid for farmers while taking control of policy from bureaucrats, often blamed for Japan's failure to tackle problems such as a creaking pension system.

The party wants to forge a diplomatic stance more independent of the United States and build better ties with Asia, often strained by bitter wartime memories.

Analysts worry spending plans by the Democrats, a mix of former LDP members, ex-Socialists and younger conservatives founded in 1998, will inflate Japan's massive public debt and push up government bond yields.

The party has vowed not to raise the 5 percent sales tax for four years while it focuses on cutting wasteful spending and tackling problems such as a shrinking and greying population.

Japan is ageing more quickly than any other rich country, inflating social security costs. More than a quarter of Japanese will be 65 or older by 2015.

The economy returned to growth in the second quarter, mostly because of short-term stimulus around the world, but the jobless rate rose to a record 5.7 percent in July.

 

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