Japan's upper house election set to go right down to the wire

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:51 July 10 2010]
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Japan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) bloc maintains that the path to the party securing at least 54 seats in Sunday's upper house election and thus extending the party's influence in both houses of parliament is still a tenable proposition, despite recent media polls suggesting otherwise,according to Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku on Friday.

Voters on a few remote islands in Kagoshima Prefecture have already begun casting their ballots to ensure their voices be heard in time for Sunday's showdown -- an election that many pundits assumed would be a shoo-in for the DPJ, but in actuality could go down to the wire, in both single and multi-seat prefectures.

Latest polls reveal the DPJ was holding its own in the proportional representation section at least, with the ruling party having garnered the support of around 27 percent of the public compared to 19 percent for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), however the main problem for Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his government is that of the 44,000 eligible voters questioned nationwide, nearly 40 percent remain undecided -- leaving a huge question mark over the outcome of Sunday's poll and, indeed, the public's faith in the new leadership and plans for the nation's fiscal restoration.

The public ponders

Despite approval ratings for Kan's government dropping steadily over the last few weeks, with media surveys reporting a plunge of 10 percent in less than a month, the DPJ is trumpeting the premise that under the leadership of Kan's government, Japan will enter an era of economic revitalization through stable governance devoid of the political gaffes, blunders and overall calamity leading to the hasty departure of Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama.

In constituencies throughout the nation Kan's camp has been ardently persuading the electorate that Sunday's election, in essence, represents the dawn of a new era of politics in Japan -- one which will ensure back room dealings and bureaucrat-led ideology remain a thing of the past and fiscal reform and the policies required to bring this to fruition over the next three years will stand front-and-center.

Toru Sugimoto, a retiree in Kan's home prefecture of Yamaguchi said that he was undecided as regards which way he will swing on Sunday and that his sentiments reflected those of his peers in his community.

"The most important thing is honesty and we have not seen a lot of it lately. I want to believe what I'm hearing about Mr. Kan's dedication to rescuing Japan from these dark economic times, but I believed it of Mr. Hatoyama and the LDP before him," Sugimoto told Xinhua by phone.

"I feel let down and need to think long and hard about what I'm hearing -- words are words and actions are actions, I insist on the government delivering on promises and if this means the LDP is granted a louder voice, so be it," he said.

Regardless of public approval though, the relatively slow pace of the fall in voter confidence and the proximity of the election mean that for many it remains hard to see anything other than a DPJ victory.