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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: Japan ruling party the underdog as campaign begins By ERIC TALMADGE,Associated Press Writer AP - Wednesday, August 19 TOKYO - Campaigning began Tuesday in one of the most heated elections in Japan in more than a decade, with the party that has ruled the country almost continuously for 55 years trailing in polls and the opposition urging the nation to vote for a historic change. ADVERTISEMENT At stake in the Aug. 30 elections are all 480 seats in Japan's lower house of parliament. Polls indicate the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which now has a commanding 302 seats, will suffer a major defeat, possibly ending its grip on government and leading to the replacement of Prime Minister Taro Aso with opposition chief Yukio Hatoyama. Aso, who is deeply unpopular with the voters, urged the nation not to abandon him, saying his party is carrying out crucial economic reforms. He also cited threats like the one posed by neighboring North Korea and its recent nuclear tests as evidence that Japan needs his party's strong national defense policy. "We are the ones who protect Japan," he said. But Hatoyama, head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said the ruling party has failed the nation. "The day has come to change the history of Japan," Hatoyama said on a stumping tour in the western city of Osaka. He has also vowed to make Japan's foreign policy less dependent on the United States, Japan's main military ally and trading partner. The Liberal Democrats have governed Japan alone or in a coalition arrangement for all of the past 55 years, except for a 10-month gap in the early 1990s. "Thanks to our measures, Japan's economy is showing bright signs," Aso said in his first campaign speech. "We are not finished with our efforts to see economic recovery. Recovery is our foremost priority." Japan's economy climbed out of yearlong recession in the second quarter, the government said Monday, expanding 3.7 percent at an annual pace and joining Germany, France and other regions that appear to be emerging from the global financial crisis. Government stimulus measures backed by Aso's party _ such as cash handouts and incentives to buy ecological products _ have helped, economists say. But the ruling party has watched its support plummet because of the still fragile economy, increasing unemployment, a perceived lack of leadership and its support of higher taxes. Aso, who is party president, is one of its biggest liabilities. In a poll released Tuesday by the Asahi, one of Japan's most influential dailies, Aso's support rating was a mere 19 percent, while his disapproval rating was 65 percent. He is widely seen as a weak leader and has a tendency for gaffes. The party overall is faring little better. The Asahi poll said the ruling party has 21 percent support among voters, compared with 40 percent who say they will opt for the Democratic Party of Japan. It said 27 percent were undecided. The Asahi poll of 1,011 voters was in line with other recent polls by major media. A poll of that size would normally have a margin of error of about 5 percentage points. "Aso's Liberal Democratic Party is in deep trouble with voters," said Hiroshi Kawahara, a professor of Japanese politics at Tokyo's Waseda University. "Voters are frustrated with the party's economic and welfare policies, and the poll showed they want a major change in government." Aso and Hatoyama have faced off twice in debates ahead of the official start of campaigning. In those meetings, Aso stressed his party has proven itself by building up the country from the ashes of defeat in World War II in 1945, while alleging that the opposition is making promises of public spending and social programs that it cannot pay for. Hatoyama, meanwhile, has said Japan needs a change of government to get itself out of its current morass, that it must cut wasteful spending, reduce oil taxes and highway tolls, and rein in the power of bureaucrats, who have broad authority over setting budgets and formulating laws. On foreign policy, Hatoyama says that Japan should be less beholden to the United States and establish a bilateral relationship based more on economic ties, where Japan _ the world's second largest economy _ has a much stronger position, than on military matters. More than 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, which pays billions of dollars each year to support them. Japan also relies on the U.S. for nuclear deterrence. While Hatoyama has not signaled major changes to those long-standing arrangements if his party takes power, he has said he would let a Japanese navy refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, which supports U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan, expire in January. With less than two weeks until polling day, the momentum is clearly with the Democrats, but they have a tough task to win the election. Going into the vote, the Democratic Party has just 112 of the lower house seats. The Democratic Party, founded 10 years ago, has controlled the upper house since elections in 2007, but the party that controls the lower house has the power to install the prime minister. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Asia Pacific Pakistan seizes aide to "dead" Taliban chiefReuters - 2 hours 40 minutes ago Prime minister's son struggles in Japan electionAP - 2 hours 52 minutes ago Attacks rock Afghan capital ahead of vote, 8 dieAP - Wednesday, August 19 SKorea loses champion of peace: Kim Dae-jungAP - Wednesday, August 19 Dalai Lama to attend Czech rights meeting: spokesmanAFP - Wednesday, August 19 Most Popular – Asia Pacific Viewed UK UFO sightings spiked when blockbusters released Michael Jackson's 51st birthday to be his burial day: father In death, as in life, Jackson surrounded by wackiness Eternal resting spot next to Marilyn Monroe to be auctioned Millions of salmon fail to turn up in Canada View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. 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