Campaigning for snap polls begins in Japan

ANKARA

Tuesday marks the official start of campaigning for snap general elections in Japan set for Oct. 27, local media said.

Election campaigning began across the country as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seeks a fresh mandate, the Tokyo-based Kyodo News agency reported.

Over 1,300 candidates are expected to run to fill 465 seats in the House of Representatives,

Prime Minister Ishiba dissolved the Diet or parliament on Oct. 9, only eight days after taking office on Oct. 1.

Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komeito are struggling to retain a combined majority of at least 233 seats in the lower house.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is also hopeful of winning the election, as the LDP has been embroiled in a funds scandal.

In the election, each voter casts two ballots, one to choose a candidate in a single-seat constituency and the other to select a party for proportional representation. Japan has 289 single-seat districts and 11 proportional representation blocks, according to the agency.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid