Japan's Abe makes final bid to avert election loss

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Japan's Abe makes final bid to avert election loss

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-07-28 14:58

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a last-ditch effort to woo voters
on Saturday ahead of an upper house election in which his ruling bloc
looks set to lose its majority, a result that could cost him his job.

Media projections have forecast the ruling camp to fall short of securing
a majority in Sunday's election, leading to a divided parliament and
political paralysis that would give Abe little room to push ahead with
his conservative agenda.

In a bid to turn things around and win the hearts of urban voters, many
of whom are unaffiliated with any party, Abe went on a final stump tour
in Tokyo along with Shintaro Ishihara, the capital's popular governor and
former ruling party lawmaker.

"Will reform go ahead or will it go backwards?" Abe told a crowd of
hundreds at a busy shopping and entertainment district in central Tokyo.

"The Democratic Party cannot advance reform," Abe, wearing a white shirt
but no tie, said from top of a campaign van, referring to the main
opposition party.

But some passing voters by did not agree.

"I'd like to see the ruling parties get a black mark. The government
isn't functioning well, especially the cabinet, and I think it's Abe's
fault," said Shunichi Shoji, a 66-year-old white collar worker for a
construction company.

"I'd like to see a change in government. We need to give the opposition a
chance."

SIXTY-FOUR SEAT TARGET

In the election, half of the 242 seats in the upper house will be
contested, and Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its partner, New
Komeito, need 64 seats to keep their majority.

But a survey by the Asahi Shimbun published on Friday predicted that the
ruling camp would only win between 38 and 58 seats, with the LDP alone
grabbing between 31 and 45 seats.

The 52-year-old Abe became Japan's first prime minister to be born after
World War Two when he took power last September, promising to boost the
country's role in global security and revise the U.S.-drafted pacifist
constitution.

He initially enjoyed public support of around 60 percent, and in 10
months in office managed to upgrade the defence agency into a
full-fledged ministry and passed legislation aimed at instilling
discipline and patriotism in schools.

He also won praise for making a fence-mending trip to China and South
Korea within weeks of taking office and improving ties that had been
frayed under predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.

But a string of gaffes and corruption scandals that led two cabinet
members to resign and one to commit suicide, coupled with the
government's mishandling of pension records that could result in retirees
being shortchanged, have halved his support ratings.

Abe need not step down for an upper house loss as the ruling bloc holds a
majority in the more powerful lower house, which chooses the prime
minister, but he would face strong pressure within the LDP to resign
should the party fail to win 40 seats, analysts have said.

A divided parliament would mean laws would be difficult to pass, and the
political confusion may force Abe to call an early election for the lower
house, which need not be held until 2009, and open the way for a change
of government.

Such a scenario would be a nightmare for the LDP, which has ruled Japan
for most of the past five decades and only two years ago scored a massive
victory under the popular Koizumi.

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