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Japanese cast votes for the lower house election

(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-30 13:46

A man casts a vote for the lower house election at a polling station in Tokyo August 30, 2009. [Agencies]

TOKYO: Japanese voters began voting early Sunday for a lower house generation in which the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) looks set to end more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

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Most of the nearly 51,000 polling stations nationwide opened at7 am (2200 GMT Saturday) and are to close at 8 pm Sunday (1100GMT Sunday). Voters formed long queues even before the polling booths opened, waiting to cast their ballots.

The results of the general election, the first in four years, are expected to be known by early Monday. Due to great voter enthusiasm, turnout could be higher than the previous general election, in which it reached 67.51 percent.

The focus of the election is whether the DPJ, led by Yukio Hatoyama can achieve a landslide victory over the ruling LDP, as predicted by media polls.

The LDP has dominated Japan's politics for more than half a century since its establishment in 1955, except for the nearly 11 months in 1993-94 when it fell out of power. Analysts say that a DPJ victory could usher in a two-party system following more than 50 years of virtually one-party rule.

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