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Nearly 14m vote in Japan's general election

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-30 19:46

TOKYO: The ministry of internal affairs and communications on Sunday said by Saturday a record 13,984,866 voters cast their ballots in early voting for the ongoing House of Representatives election.

A woman fills out a ballot for the lower house election at a polling station in Tokyo August 30, 2009. Japanese voted in an election on Sunday that looked set to oust the long-ruling conservative party and give the untested opposition the job of nurturing a recovery from the country's worst recession since World War Two. [Agencies]

The figure represents 13.40 percent of all eligible voters in Japan, or about 1.56 times higher than in the 2005 lower house election when 8,962,847 cast early votes, said the ministry.

Due to the voters' enthusiasm, turnout could also be higher than the previous general election, in which it reached 67. 51 percent, local media reported.

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On Wednesday the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) President Yukio Hatoyama cast his absentee ballots for the Hokkaido Constituency No. 9 as well as for the proportional representation segment of the election at a special branch office of Tokyo's Ota Ward.

A day earlier Prime Minister Taro Aso, who is also the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also cast his early ballots for Fukuoka Constituency No. 8 and the Kyushu proportional representation bloc.

The current early voting system began in 2004. In 2007, some 10. 8 million voters cast early votes in the upper house election.