Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition was on track for a decisive victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, media projections showed, despite lukewarm public support for its policies.
Abe, in power since late 2012, has yet to achieve a strong recovery in the world's third-largest economy through measures centred on massive easy money and other steps -- so-called Abenomics.
Voters have also expressed misgivings about his cherished dream of amending the country's war-renouncing constitution.
But his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Buddhist-backed Komeito benefitted as public confidence in opposition parties was seen as even lower.
The two parties would take at least 63 of the 121 seats in parliament's upper house available in the election -- half the chamber's total -- up from 59 previously, public broadcaster NHK said.
Its projection and similar estimates by other media were based on partial results and their own analysis after polls closed at 8 pm (1100 GMT).
The two parties control 77 seats from the other half of the chamber, which was not contested Sunday, meaning that they are set to increase their majority in the 242-seat body.
The House of Councillors, as the upper house is formally known, is the less powerful chamber in Japan's bicameral parliament, and half its seats come up for election every three years.
NHK and other media suggested the LDP itself was in reach of a majority in the upper house on its own which, if achieved, would be its first in 27 years.
Abe is also hoping that the coalition and a loose group of hawkish conservatives from smaller parties can grab a two-thirds majority in the upper house, which they already have in the lower chamber -- thus giving him the strength to start amending the constitution.
The media exit polls and analyses said it was possible that the parties favouring constitutional revision could reach such a super majority in the upper house.
The constitution, which renounces Japan's right to wage war, is deplored by nationalists as a relic from Japan's World War II defeat. But many Japanese staunchly embrace its pacifist ideal.
- 'Further push' -
Any legislation that mustered the two-thirds majorities needed to pass both houses would face another hurdle in the form of a national referendum.
A key plank of Abe's economic policy was to finally bury Japan's on-again off-again battle with debilitating deflation, or falling prices, and he has admitted that the battle is a work in progress.
"Abenomics has never failed but is still half done," Abe told voters in Tokyo late Saturday, winding up the election campaign.
"All we have to do is to push for the policy firmly and steadily."
On Sunday, however, the LDP was clearly taking the election result as a vote of confidence.
"This decision indicates that voters want to push further for Abenomics," Toshimitsu Motegi, an LDP senior official, told NHK.
Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo, said the results were a clear win for Abe.
"Considering the current negative signs for the economy, we can say many voters reluctantly voted for ruling candidates due to the weakness of the opposition," he told AFP.
"Voters passively approved Abenomics with no alternatives."
Voter turnout stood at 36 percent as of 7.30 pm, half an hour before polls closed, down from the last upper vote in 2013.
Early voting hit a record 16 million by Saturday, accounting for 15 percent of the nation's eligible voters, according to the government.
Japan's voting age was lowered from 20 to 18 to encourage young people to take part in politics but their impact on the poll remained unclear.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition was on track for a decisive victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, media projections showed, despite lukewarm public support for its policies.
Abe, in power since late 2012, has yet to achieve a strong recovery in the world’s third-largest economy through measures centred on massive easy money and other steps — so-called Abenomics.
Voters have also expressed misgivings about his cherished dream of amending the country’s war-renouncing constitution.
But his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Buddhist-backed Komeito benefitted as public confidence in opposition parties was seen as even lower.
The two parties would take at least 63 of the 121 seats in parliament’s upper house available in the election — half the chamber’s total — up from 59 previously, public broadcaster NHK said.
Its projection and similar estimates by other media were based on partial results and their own analysis after polls closed at 8 pm (1100 GMT).
The two parties control 77 seats from the other half of the chamber, which was not contested Sunday, meaning that they are set to increase their majority in the 242-seat body.
The House of Councillors, as the upper house is formally known, is the less powerful chamber in Japan’s bicameral parliament, and half its seats come up for election every three years.
NHK and other media suggested the LDP itself was in reach of a majority in the upper house on its own which, if achieved, would be its first in 27 years.
Abe is also hoping that the coalition and a loose group of hawkish conservatives from smaller parties can grab a two-thirds majority in the upper house, which they already have in the lower chamber — thus giving him the strength to start amending the constitution.
The media exit polls and analyses said it was possible that the parties favouring constitutional revision could reach such a super majority in the upper house.
The constitution, which renounces Japan’s right to wage war, is deplored by nationalists as a relic from Japan’s World War II defeat. But many Japanese staunchly embrace its pacifist ideal.
– ‘Further push’ –
Any legislation that mustered the two-thirds majorities needed to pass both houses would face another hurdle in the form of a national referendum.
A key plank of Abe’s economic policy was to finally bury Japan’s on-again off-again battle with debilitating deflation, or falling prices, and he has admitted that the battle is a work in progress.
“Abenomics has never failed but is still half done,” Abe told voters in Tokyo late Saturday, winding up the election campaign.
“All we have to do is to push for the policy firmly and steadily.”
On Sunday, however, the LDP was clearly taking the election result as a vote of confidence.
“This decision indicates that voters want to push further for Abenomics,” Toshimitsu Motegi, an LDP senior official, told NHK.
Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo, said the results were a clear win for Abe.
“Considering the current negative signs for the economy, we can say many voters reluctantly voted for ruling candidates due to the weakness of the opposition,” he told AFP.
“Voters passively approved Abenomics with no alternatives.”
Voter turnout stood at 36 percent as of 7.30 pm, half an hour before polls closed, down from the last upper vote in 2013.
Early voting hit a record 16 million by Saturday, accounting for 15 percent of the nation’s eligible voters, according to the government.
Japan’s voting age was lowered from 20 to 18 to encourage young people to take part in politics but their impact on the poll remained unclear.
