A woman casts her ballot Sunday at Shibaura Elementary School in Minato Ward, Tokyo.
Here's another interesting story about elections in Japan... wonder what the lib dem's will say about Iraq in 10 years?
Voters go to polls nationwide today Yomiuri Shimbun
Voting for the 43rd House of Representatives election, in which 1,159 candidates are running, begins nationwide this morning. It is the first general election since June 2000.
Voting starts at 7 a.m. and will last until 8 p.m. Vote counting will start immediately after polling stations are closed. If work by all prefectural election administration commissions goes smoothly, early indications of the overall result will become apparent by around 1 a.m. Monday. By dawn Monday, results for the 300 seats in single-seat constituencies and 180 proportional representation seats are likely to be in.
In the election, 1,026 candidates are running in single-seat constituencies, and 133, excluding those who are simultaneously running in these constituencies, are running in proportional representation blocs.
The Liberal Democratic Party, Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), New Komeito, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party all fielded proportional representation candidates.
Candidates and political parties finished 12 days of campaigning at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday's voting will be held at 53,390 polling stations across the nation. At 10,532 stations, voting will start or end earlier or later than the standard hours.
Voting was held Saturday at 67 polling stations in 25 municipalities in isolated islands and remote areas.
There were 102,610,731 eligible voters as of Oct. 27, including those who live abroad. The figure increased by about 1.84 million from the previous general election.
Among party leaders, Minshuto leader Naoto Kan, New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii and Hoshushinto (New Conservative Party) head Hiroshi Kumagai will cast their ballots Sunday.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is LDP president, and SDP leader Takako Doi have already cast absentee ballots.
Vote counting will start between 8 and 9 p.m. in 36 prefectures, including Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kyoto and Fukuoka. In Nagasaki Prefecture, where vote counting will start last, the work is scheduled to begin before 10 p.m.
In this election, the focus of attention has been on whether a shift in power will occur. The LDP and Minshuto are directly competing in 246 constituencies, up from 225 in the previous general election.
In tandem with the election, voters may cast no-confidence votes for Supreme Court justices under a national review system. This time, nine Supreme Court justices appointed since June 2000 will be screened.