Voting begins for Japan's upper house election

Voting for Japan's upper house election began Sunday morning, with voters expected to deliver a verdict on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policies, including his tough state pension reforms and policy on Iraq.

Some 100 million Japanese citizens aged 20 or older are eligible to vote until polling stations close at 8 p.m. Election experts have predicted a lower turnout than the 56.44 percent in the last election in 2001.

A total of 320 candidates are vying for the 121 seats up for grabs. And the results are expected to be clear by Monday morning.

Koizumi is likely to face pressure to step down if his ruling Liberal Democratic Party captures fewer seats than the target of 51 or is outnumbered by the main opposition Democratic Party, LDP members have said.

As the economy is recovering, voters have been angered by Koizumi's state pension reforms, which have raised premiums and cut benefits to try to cope with a falling birth rate and aging population.

A survey published by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper on Friday showed voters were about evenly split between the LDP and the Democratic Party.

The upper house has a total of 242 seats and half of them are contested every three years.

If the LDP meets its target of 51 seats, Koizumi will cement his grip on power after three years in office and is likely to serve out his remaining two years.

The LDP needs to win 56 seats to obtain an outright majority without its coalition partner.

If the LDP wins 45 to 50 seats, Koizumi would be weakened but would be likely to stay. But if the party performs poorly and wins44 or fewer seats, that could force Koizumi to resign.

In 1998, Ryutaro Hashimoto was forced to step down as prime minister after a poor LDP performance in an upper house election in which it won only 44 seats.

Source: Xinhua