(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Japan want their country’s main opposition party to assemble the next administration, according to a poll by Mainichi. 46 per cent of respondents want the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to win the next legislative election, while 33 per cent back the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

In the September 2005 House of Representatives ballot, the LDP—led at the time by Junichiro Koizumi—elected 296 lawmakers to the 480-seat lower house. The LDP is supported by the New Komeito Clean Government Party (Kt).

An election to renew half of the House of Councillors seats took place in July 2007. Final results gave the opposition DPJ 60 of the 121 seats at stake, with the governing LDP winning 37 mandates. The opposition—with 137 seats—now holds a majority in the upper house of Japan’s Diet for the first time since the LDP was founded in 1955.

In September, Yasuo Fukuda was elected as the new leader of the LDP and officially sworn in as Japan’s prime minister, substituting Shinzo Abe. Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary during the premierships of Yoshiro Mori and Koizumi. He is also the son of former Japanese head of government Takeo Fukuda.

Yesterday, senior DPJ executive Naoto Kan said the opposition might attempt to topple the government in March, saying, "I think that a mandate from the people should be sought around the time that the budget is enacted, and we want to make efforts in that direction."

An election to the House of Representatives is technically not due before 2009, but differences in the legislature could trigger an early ballot.

Polling Data

Which party would you like to win the next legislative election?

Source: Mainichi
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,528 Japanese adults, conducted in December 2007. No margin of error was provided.

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