Ruling LDP braces for blow in snap Japanese election

Voters in Japan headed to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections that will determine the next prime minister and which are expected to lead to a power-sharing agreement that may turn the focus to domestic issues.

But such an arrangement is unlikely to alter Tokyo’s outlook on defence and security, observers said, adding that power-sharing would not be a new strategy for the ruling party.

Polling ahead of the vote suggests the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – which has dominated Japanese politics for decades – is expected to fall short of the majority required to govern.

“We want to start afresh as a fair, just and sincere party, and seek your mandate,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told supporters at a rally on Saturday.

The second-biggest party is the Constitutional Democratic Party, led by popular former Prime Minister Toshihiko Noda.

“The LDP’s politics is all about quickly implementing policies for those who give them loads of cash,” Noda told supporters on Saturday. “But those in vulnerable positions, who can’t offer cash, have been ignored.”

Stephen Nagy, a professor of politics and international studies at Tokyo’s International Christian University, said a power-sharing agreement between the LDP and opposition parties, if long-lasting, would likely make Japan “more domestically focused”.