Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost without interruption for decades.
Voting will take place in Japan today in what are expected to be tight early parliamentary elections. The polling stations opened early the night before Sunday, Finnish time.
Based on opinion polls, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its government partner Komeito have to seriously struggle to get the necessary majority in the lower house of the parliament.
The former defense minister was elected as the leader of the liberal democratic LDP party after a vote at the end of September Shigeru Ishiba. Immediately after becoming prime minister, he ordered early parliamentary elections.
In many areas, LDP candidates and the ex-prime minister Yoshihiko Nodan the candidates of the main opposition party CDP led by
Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost without interruption for decades.
The outgoing Prime Minister of the Liberal Democrats Fumio Kishida announced in August that he would not seek another term as party leader. He justified his decision with the party’s need to show its ability to reform and win back the people’s trust after years of turmoil.
In recent years, there has been an uproar in Japan over, for example, LDP members’ inappropriate connections to the Korean Unification Church and donations received by factions within the party without keeping records.