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Japan to Go to the Polls
The Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori,dissolved the lower house of Parliament on June 2, paving the way for national elections later this month.
At stake are 480 seats in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber Parliament. The Liberal Democrats hold 267 of the current 500 seats, and with their two coalition partners control 336, a comfortable majority.
By dissolving the lower house, Mr Mori has effectively shelved a no confidence motion by the opposition parties, which argue he has proven himself unfit to lead the nation.
The gaffe-prone Mr Mori, who could lose his job if the ruling bloc fares badly, has made the task far tougher since he sparked a furore by calling Japan a "divine nation with the emperor at its core", remarks that revived memories of wartime ideology.
Mr Mori's popularity has plunged, although support for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which dominates the coalition and has been in power for most of the past 45 years, has suffered less drastic declines.
Analysts say the three-way ruling bloc will likely hang on to its majority in the lower house in the June 25 election, but their tight grip on the chamber could weaken and a defeat cannot be ruled out completely.
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