Japanese voters cast ballots Sunday in an upper house election, with Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc looking to protect its majority and keep on track ...
TOKYO: Japanese voters cast ballots on Sunday in an upper house election, with Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc looking to protect its majority and keep on track plans to amend the country's pacifist constitution.
The vote outcome is expected to become clear shortly after the polls close at 8pm, with pollsters suggesting turnout could be lower than 50 per cent - significantly less than usual. A win means Abe should be able to stay in power until November when he will break the record of the nation's longest-serving premiership held by Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times between 1901 and 1913.During campaigns, Abe's ruling coalition has sought to win voter support for a rise in the nation's consumption tax to 10 percent later this year as part of efforts to ease swelling social security costs in the"ultra-aged" country.
Abe vowed to"clearly stipulate the role of the Self-Defence Forces in the constitution," which prohibits Japan from waging war and maintaining a military.
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