General election kicks off in Japan

Tokyo [Japan] : Polling stations have opened in Japan where elections to the lower house of parliament are taking place on Sunday. The polling stations opened at 07:00 local time on Sunday (22:00 GMT on Saturday ) and eligible voters will be able to cast their ballots until 20:00 local time on Sunday (11:00 GMT).

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to retain the majority of seats in the lower house with the party’s candidates likely to occupy at least 233 out of the total 465 seats (289 single-member districts and 176 elected under proportional representation).

A total of 1,051 candidates from nine parties are competing for the parliamentary seats. The general election has already set two records. This is the shortest period between the election of a prime minister, which Fumio Kishida won on October 4, and the dissolution of parliament, which took place on October 14. Moreover, the election campaign this year was the shortest in the post-war history of Japan.