By Todd Crowell
TOKYO
Japanese citizens who went to the polls Sunday probably did so more out of a sense of civic duty rather than for any great enthusiasm for or against the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Whether from duty or not, the premier’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seemed on track to win a stomping majority in the House of Representatives, the lower but most important house in Japan’s two-chamber parliament.
Since the beginning of the two-week campaign period, public opinion polls have consistently shown Abe’s party winning around 300 seats. Along with its longtime coalition partner, New Komeito, it will easily retain its two-thirds majority.
This likely electoral triumph comes against the background of bad economic news and a widening economic recession. New figures released last week indicate the economy contracted by 1.9 percent rather than 1.6 percent as was previously reported.
The sharp contraction is widely blamed on the imposition of an 8 percent national sales tax this year, and Abe himself decided to postpone yet another rise scheduled for early next year, using this as his main excuse for calling a new election two years before he had to.
The excuse has puzzled many Japanese nationals, as no election was required to postpone the tax rise and, indeed, was overwhelmingly the popular thing to do. None of the opposition parties came out against the rise, though some favored rolling it back to 5 percent.
That is one reason why this vote has been held against a background of voter apathy toward any of the parties contesting the election. Heavy snowstorms in the northeast and along the Sea of Japan will contribute to what many are predicting to be the lowest voter turnout in the history of Japan elections.
Some 1,191 candidates are vying to win one of the 475 seats in the lower house, divided by 295 single-member districts and 180 seats decided by proportional voting. Each elector has two votes -- one for a member of parliament and one for the party of choice. The upper house is not up for election.
Compared with 2012, fewer parties are competing this year. Several of the new parties that won seats last time are split or have disbanded, and the LDP is expected to pick up many of their seats. Two years after its thumping defeat, the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan has not overcome voters’ extreme disappointment in its 2009-2012 government.
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