Japan's long-ruling government braced for election defeat

Seismic political shift gives opposition party upper hand ahead of Sunday's elections as voters lose faith in Taro Aso's government

---

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 August 2009 17.37 BST

---

If the polls are correct, his party, one of the most formidable electoral machines in modern times, is about to become the victim of a seismic political shift in the world's second biggest economy.

After being governed for 53 of the past 54 years by the LDP, voters are preparing to send the main opposition, the Democratic party of Japan (DPJ), into office with an overwhelming majority.

In an indication of the scale of the defeat facing the prime minister, Taro Aso, a poll in today's Asahi Shimbun newspaper suggested the LDP's strength in the lower house could be more than halved to about 100 seats, with the opposition taking as many as 320 seats in the 480-seat chamber.