Japan:voting for general election ends

In Japan, voting for general election ended on Sunday with polling stations closing nationwide at 8:00 p.m. local time (1100 GMT), and ballots counting is expected to last late into the night. Media polls suggest the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito will retain the majority, taking at least 233 seats in the 465-member House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament. Of the lower house seats, 289 seats will come from single-member districts, where candidates fight head-to-head for votes. Another 176 will be decided through proportional representation which allocates seats based on parties' votes in 11 regional blocks.

According to a Kyodo News survey conducted earlier this week, LDP candidates were in close battles with opposition rivals in about 70 single-member districts, as around 40 percent of voters are still undecided. The ruling coalition and opposition parties had debated over issues including anti-COVID-19 measures and post-pandemic economic policies during election campaigning. Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had surprised by calling for early Parliamentary Polls. Kishida had expressed a wish to implement large-scale Coronavirus counter-measures and bold economic policies saying that the polls will make it clear whether people trust him to carry out these policies. Kishida, who succeeded the unpopular Yoshihide Suga a month ago, has set a target of 233 seats for the coalition.