Japanese PM heads for landslide

PRIME Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, seeking a mandate for sweeping government reforms, was headed for a landslide victory in elections for Japan's lower house of Parliament, national media predicted after polls closed yesterday.

With official results still hours away, Mr Koizumi said late last night that it appeared the LDP had won a lower house majority in its own right. The leader of the main opposition party conceded defeat.

"I had hoped we would win a majority with our party alone, but we did even better than that," Mr Koizumi said. "I believe it was important to hear the people's voice."

Public broadcaster NHK and several commercial networks said exit polls indicated the Liberal Democrats stood to win as many as 309 of the powerful house's 480 seats, 60 more than it held before Mr Koizumi dissolved parliament last month. TBS, another network, said the LDP would win 307 seats.

The main opposition party, the Democrats, was expected to win 104 seats, a devastating plunge from its previous 175 seats, NHK said.

The Kyodo News agency says the LDP was assured of winning a majority.

An official vote count was not expected until this morning.

If the polls prove correct, the LDP would be on course for possibly its biggest victory ever in lower house elections. At its peak in 1986, it held 300 of the then-512 seats in the chamber.

Mr Koizumi led a vibrant campaign that rejuvenated the long-ruling but staid LDP by positioning the party as an engine of dynamic change, appealing to voters worried about a bloated government weakening efforts to boost a struggling economic recovery.