Survey predicts win for Shinzo Abe's party in Japan

Tokyo, Dec 4: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is likely to win over 300 of the 475 seats in the House of Representatives elections to be held Dec 14.

The figure is far higher than Abe's minimal goal of securing an overall majority of 238 seats, reveals a telephone survey report conducted by Kyodo News Tuesday and Wednesday.

LDP held 295 seats before the lower house was dissolved Nov 21.

The survey also showed that the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan is unlikely to pose a major threat to the LDP, with the party estimated to win around 70 seats, up from 59 at the time of the dissolution but well below its target of 100.

Abe called for snap elections in November after postponement of the second round of sales tax hike by 18 months in the wake of the country's severe economic situation.

IANS