Japan opposition ahead as campaign starts

TOKYO, Aug 18 – Japan’s main opposition party holds a wide lead over prime minister Taro Aso’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic party in voter polls as official campaigning kicks off for an August 30 election, newspaper reports showed on Tuesday.

A victory for the opposition Democratic party, which has vowed to pay more heed to consumers than companies and to break bureaucrats’ grip on policy-making, would put Mr Aso’s conservative LDP out of power after an almost unbroken reign of more than 50 years.
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In a voter survey by the daily Asahi newspaper, 40 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the Democrats in proportional representation districts for the election, up slightly from the previous survey in early August.

Of the 1,011 voters surveyed, 21 per cent opted for the LDP. Another poll by the daily Tokyo Shimbun showed similar results.

The LDP has suffered from voter frustration over the sluggish economy, which data showed on Monday returned to growth in the second quarter, and longer-term concerns such as rising social security costs.

The Democrats have vowed to boost domestic demand by putting money directly in the hands of households through steps such as child allowances, but critics say the party needs a more credible plan to finance its policy proposals.

The business-friendly LDP has pledged to achieve annualised economic growth of 2 percent by the second half of fiscal 2010, which starts next April, and says it would raise the 5 percent consumption tax to fund growing social welfare costs once the economy recovers.