Update - Japan's Ruling Party Set To Win Majority İn Election

By Todd Crowell



TOKYO – The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was heading for another landslide election victory in Sunday's voting.



With more than half of the votes counted as of 10.00 p.m. (01.00 p.m. GMT), the LDP and its coalition party had secured a clear majority in the House of Representatives and was headed for a supermajority.



As the legal term for a parliamentarian is four years, the election guarantees the LDP another four years in power and almost guarantees Abe's re-election as party leader -- a prerequisite for remaining prime minister -- in the party presidential election in September.



"The election was meaningless as there was essentially no change, but it extends Abe's term when he is faced with some unpopular decisions, such as promoting the re-start of idled nuclear plants," long-time Japan watcher Michael Penn told The Anadolu Agency.



The main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), more or less held its own although its leader, Banri Kaieda, lost his seat in central Tokyo.



"I hope the election will become our first solid step toward recovery," Yukio Edano, widely assumed to be Kaieda's successor, told AA.



The biggest losers in Sunday's election were the smaller remnants of the "third party" opposition element that had figured prominently in the 2012 general election. Such figures included Shintaro Ishihara, former four-term governor of Tokyo and a well-known arch-conservative.



One of the surprise winners in the election was the Japanese Communist Party, which was on track to double or even triple its representation in parliament -- currently standing at eight. It also won a first single-seat district, Okinawa, for the first time in 18 years.



The only prominent LDP candidate to lose his re-election bid was Koya Nishikawa, minister of agriculture. His defeat may have implications for Japan's joining the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership.



But another prominent figure Yuko Obuchi, who resigned from the cabinet over a fundraising scandal in October, easily retained her seat.



As was also predicted, voter turnout was extremely low at 53 percent compared with other recent elections.



"The real story is the turnout," Jun Okumura, senior advisor for the Eurasia Group, told AA. "It undermines the story that Abe earned a mandate."



A total of 1,191 candidates ran for election in the 475-seat chamber, 295 for single-member seats and 180 on the proportional voting list.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Tokyo