Japan opposition projected to win in ruling party stronghold

Apr 24, 2011, 13:44 GMT

Tokyo - A candidate backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was set to win the by-election Sunday for a stronghold of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), news reports said.

Hideki Niwa, a former LDP lower house member, was projected to defeat four other candidates for the House of Representatives Aichi number 6 district, Kyodo News reported based on exist polls. The DPJ even did not field its own candidate in the race.

Japanese voters cast ballots Sunday in the second round of nationwide local elections with the focus on reconstruction in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was crippled by the disaster and has been leaking radiation ever since.

The local races were closely watched to see how they would affect the government of embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose DPJ suffered a crushing defeat in gubernatorial and other local contests in the first round earlier this month.

The DPJ was also badly beaten in the July upper house election under Kan's leadership, losing control of the chamber.

Sunday's local elections were to choose 73 new city mayors, 63 town and village leaders as well as assembly members for 292 municipalities across the nation, Kyodo News reported.

The official death toll from the March disaster stood at 14,300, with 11,999 people listed as missing as of Sunday, the National Police Agency said.

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