- Title: JAPAN: Polling booths close in elections
- Date: 31st August 2009
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (AUGUST 30, 2009) (REUTERS) PEOPLE VOTING AT AKASAKA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MORE OF PEOPLE VOTING EMPTY POLLING ROOM ELECTION OFFICIAL RINGING FINAL BELL ELECTION OFFICIALS CARRYING BALLOT BOXES ELECTION OFFCIALS PUTTING BALLOT BOXES INTO BOOT OF TAXI TAXI DRIVING AWAY
- Embargoed: 15th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2L8VEW5TZC6VNRVFI1W2HINNK
- Story Text: Voting booths closed on Sunday (August 30) as exit polls showed the Japanese opposition party was headed for a historic victory in an election that would oust the long-ruling conservative party and give the untested Democrats the job of reviving a weak economy.
Exit polls by private broadcasters showed the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) could win two thirds of seats in parliament's powerful 480-member lower house.
That matched opinion polls that had forecast a huge loss for Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). A senior LDP official acknowledged the extent of the drubbing, saying the party was headed for a "historic defeat".
A Democratic Party win would end a half-century of almost unbroken rule by the LDP and break a deadlock in parliament, ushering in a government pledging cash for consumers, a cut in wasteful spending and less power for bureaucrats.
It would unravel a three-way partnership between the LDP, big business and bureaucrats that turned Japan into an economic juggernaut after the country's defeat in World War Two. That strategy foundered when Japan's "bubble" economy burst in the late 1980s and growth has stagnated since.
Financial markets have sought an end to the stalemate in parliament, where the Democrats and their allies control the less powerful upper chamber and can delay bills, but bond yields may rise if a new government increases spending. [JP/] Most exit polls showed the LDP wining just over 100 seats, down from 300. Its partner, the New Komeito Party, was expected to win around 20 seats. The Democratic Party had just 115 seats in the last lower house. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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