Litmus test for new PM

Japan election

JAPAN: Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in power for just a month, will seek the popular mandate he lacks so far at upper house elections Sunday, but opinion polls suggest his chances are mixed at best.

The vote will be the first national ballot box test since his centre-left party swept to power under a different leader last August, transforming politics in Asia's biggest economy after a half-century of conservative rule.

Kan, a pragmatist who has vowed to restore Japan's tattered finances, is seeking popular support to draw a line under a period of revolving-door politics that has seen five new premiers in four years.

Although voters will elect only half the members of the upper house, the poll will be a litmus test for his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), whose 10-month-old coalition rule has left many voters underwhelmed.

The poll will make the difference between a strong government that can tackle the country's problems - including sluggish growth and a public debt mountain - and one that remains mired in messy coalition politics.

Three newspaper polls published on Friday said Kan's coalition may fall short of keeping a majority in the upper chamber, meaning he will face a deadlocked parliament unless he seeks new political allies.

TOKYO, Friday, AFP