Campaigns kick off for Japan's General Election

The primary focus of the election is whether the ruling coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its partner Komeito, can maintain a majority or if opposition parties can gain enough momentum to weaken the ruling bloc's hold on power.

Candidates are competing for 465 seats in the House of Representatives, the more powerful chamber of the parliament. According to the national broadcaster NHK, altogether 1,338 candidates are expected to run.

Japan's House of Representatives is elected through a mixed electoral system that combines both single-member districts and proportional representation.

Voters effectively cast two votes: one for a candidate in their single-member district and one for a party in the proportional representation bloc.

The election is expected to focus on key issues like political reform following the LDP's funding scandals, responses to inflation and economic measures.

The LDP, which ruled Japan for most of the post-war era, previously held 258 seats in the 465-member lower house, and it governed in coalition with Komeito, which held 32 seats.

The main opposition is the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan led by former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, which held 99 seats before the lower house was dissolved.

-- BERNAMA