Japanese poised for historic change of government
Updated
Japan will hold elections on Sunday which are tipped to see the dominant ruling party overthrown, after five decades of almost unbroken control.
The opposition Democratic Party of Japan is expected to inflict a devastating blow on the once-mighty Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Mark Willacy, North Asia correspondent
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WILLACY: Well there's certainly been a sense of there is an appetite for change. There is certainly a feeling out there that the momentum is behind the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. And just this morning a new poll has come out, we believe it'll be one of the last polls before people cast their ballots. It's showing the opposition Democratic Party with 36 per cent of the vote, twice as many votes as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at 18 per cent. But one of the things that is interesting about this poll is that 30 per cent of people are undecided, so there's still a lot of votes up for grabs. But the general feeling is that the opposition may snatch this election after basically not knowing how to win an election for decades.
COCHRANE: And what have the main campaigning issues been, has it been an issues-driven campaign or has it been about changing the incumbent government?
WILLACY: I think a lot of it's got to do about changing the government, that there's that mood for change, and change, they've been using the English word, 'change', in this election. The opposition has been using it quite a lot basically drawing on a strategy from the Obama campaign, which was very closely watched over here. But certainly if you look at the opposition's policies, they're promising what they call a more humane government, so they want to bring in child care allowances that are quite generous, they want to reinvigorate the pension system. They also want to get rid of the bureaucrats controlling policy, which has long been a source of contention here in Japan. On the ruling party's front they are saying look we finally turned the economy around, Japan's just recorded its first growth in five quarters, we're doing ok, and besides how are we going to pay for all these opposition policies. So yes their campaign has focussed on that, it hasn't really gotten any traction though according to the latest polls that we're seeing today.
COCHRANE: And Prime Minister Taro Aso I understand has again managed to put his foot in his mouth in the last week of campaigning?
WILLACY: Yes, we've had many people with him, Mr Aso's own cabinet within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party shaking their heads. Yet again he's a man who's renowned for maybe opening his mouth before he's fully thought through an idea or a sentence. He's a man who's upset doctors, he's said they lack commonsense, he's basically said old people's only function really is to get out and work. And this week he was addressing a group of students when he said basically look if you haven't got any money, if you're poor don't get married. Only people with means can earn respect. Now that was poorly pitched you'd have to say and it was something that the opposition certainly had a lot of fun with. But Mr Aso hasn't really helped his own cause with some of the things he's had to say during his time as Prime Minister.
COCHRANE: And Mark when will we know the result of the election?
WILLACY: It's believed we'll know the results hopefully within about five or six hours after the ballot boxes close on Sunday evening. Given what the polls are saying, if the polls are correct we'll get a fairly early trend, we'll know very early in the evening exactly what's going on and that should be a Democratic Party of Japan victory. But with 30 per cent of the electorate undecided you never know, things could change, once people get into the polling stations they may think well look we know what the Liberal Democratic Party stands for, ok there've been some problems but you know for 50 years we know what they can do, maybe I should stick with them. That's the big fear among the opposition that people say one thing to the pollsters but when they get into that polling station they may back track a bit.
