Abe heads into Japan vote in pole position
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday vowed to protect the Japanese people as he wrapped up an election campaign dominated by threats from North Korea.
Polls show Abe and his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are clear favourites to win today's (Sunday) election, handing him a fresh mandate for his hardline stance on North Korea and "Abenomics" growth strategy.
Abe's coalition is on track to win around 300 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, according to a projection published by the Nikkei daily.
If the polls are correct, 63year-old Abe is on course to be the longest-serving premier in post-war Japan, the world's third-biggest economy and key US ally in Asia.
"It has been a very tough election," Abe told crowds that braved the rain in central Japan, as a typhoon barrelled towards the country. "The ruling bloc ... is the one that can protect people's lives and defend our happy way of life," he said, in a clear reference to North Korea, which has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea and fired two missiles over the country.
Abe has stuck to a hawkish stance on North Korea, stressing that maximum pressure should be exerted on the regime and backing the US line that "all options" are on the table.
Throughout the short 12-day campaign, the premier has railed against Pyongyang, telling a crowd recently: "At a time like this ... we cannot waver. Everyone, we must not yield to the threat of North Korea!"
Abe enjoys only lukewarm public support but the weak and fragmented opposition has been unable to make inroads into his poll lead during the short 12-day campaign.
The two main opposition parties—the "Party of Hope" created by the media-savvy Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and the new centre-left Constitutional Democratic Party—are trailing far behind, predicted to win around 50 seats each.
"You must not stick to the status quo of flaccid politics, which has failed to carry out drastic and necessary reforms," Koike said in a last-ditch appeal to voters yesterday. "If we do not use this opportunity (to oust Abe), major reforms that are truly needed will be delayed," she said.