Japan PM Abe's party wins double by-election test

TOKYO, Oct 22 (Reuters) Candidates from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party won two closely watched by-elections for parliament's lower house today, the first national level polls since the conservative Abe took office last month.

The by-elections in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, and the western metropolis of Osaka were seen as providing clues to how voters viewed Abe's performance and how his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will fare in an upper house election next summer.

''The LDP-New Komeito coalition has been given a major power by the people,'' Abe was quoted by LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa as saying of the results, Kyodo news agency reported.

''I will do my utmost to deliver the policies pledged, without being arrogant,'' Abe added.

LDP candidate Zentaro Kamei, 35, won in Kanagawa, where the by-election was held following his lawmaker father's death, NHK television and Kyodo news agency reported.

''I want to tackle individual problems one by one,'' a beaming Kamei told cheering supporters after his win was assured.

In Osaka, the LDP's Kenji Harada, 58, emerged victorious from a tough battle with main opposition Democratic Party candidate Nobumori Otani, 43, Kyodo and NHK said.

''I want to work steadfastly on diplomacy, defence, public safety and the content of education,'' Harada told his backers.

TEST OF ABE POPULARITY The by-elections have little impact on the balance of power in the lower house, where the LDP already has a huge majority.

But they were viewed as tests of Abe's popularity as he copes with the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test and tackles his domestic agenda, where he has put priority on education reforms aimed at putting more patriotism in schools.

Abe, 52, romped to victory in an LDP leadership contest in September after party lawmakers and rank-and-file backed him as their best bet to lead them in next year's upper house election.

A hardliner toward Pyongyang who wants to rewrite Japan's pacifist constitution and give Tokyo more say in global affairs, Abe quickly scored points with the public for holding summits with Chinese and South Korean leaders soon after taking office.

Relations with Beijing and Seoul had chilled because of visits by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa, a former LDP heavyweight who left the party in 1993, had hoped to show his party could rebound from the battering it suffered in a general election last year called by the popular, maverick Koizumi.

The 64-year-old Ozawa, who suffers from heart trouble, campaigned hard for the Democratic Party candidates despite having been hospitalised briefly for health checks last month.

Both LDP candidates were staunchly supported by the LDP's junior coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed New Komeito party, while floating voters leaned toward the Democratic Party candidates, Kyodo said its exit polls showed.

Reuters AB DB2129