Japan opposition LDP remains election favorite

TOKYO - Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) kept its clear lead ahead of a December election, opinion polls showed on Monday, with the hawkish Japan Restoration Party (JRP) led by a nationalist ex-Tokyo governor placing second.

The Yomiuri daily poll showed that 25 percent of voters would opt for the LDP, which is calling for aggressive monetary steps to end deflation, well ahead of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) 10 percent support.

Fourteen percent of voters planned to vote for the new Japan Restoration Party, led by 80-year-old Shintaro Ishihara and popular Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto.

Ishihara, the outspoken former Tokyo governor who sparked a territorial spat with China over a group of islets, was seen as more suitable to lead the government than the Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, according to Yomiuri's survey.

But LDP opposition leader Shinzo Abe kept his individual lead with 29 percent of voter support.

The election is expected to usher in a period of confusing coalition politics because of the emergence of new parties and because whoever wins will still lack a majority in parliament's upper house, which can block bills.

The election for parliament's powerful lower house is unlikely to fix a policy stalemate that has plagued Japan as it struggles with an ageing population, a declining manufacturing sector and the emerging power of China.

With many voters discontented with the Japanese politics, 37 percent of respondents to the Yomiuri poll said they were undecided how they would vote. Surveys by other media, the Asahi newspaper and Kyodo news agency, showed similar results.

The DPJ swept to power in 2009 ending more than a half a century of nearly non-stop LDP rule. But its support slumped over what voters saw as broken promises, a confused response to last year's tsunami and nuclear crisis, and Noda's unpopular policies such as a tax hike and the restart of nuclear reactors.

Following is a table based on media polls asking which party voters would choose in the proportional representation stage of the lower house election.

POLL           DATE          DPJ      LDP      RESTORATION

Asahi          Nov 26        13       23        9  

Yomiuri        Nov 26        10       25       14

Kyodo          Nov 25        8.4     18.7     10.3

Nikkei         Nov 19        16       25       11

Asahi          Nov 19        15       22        6

Mainichi       Nov 19        11       17       10

Yomiuri        Nov 18        13       26        8  

Asahi          Nov 17        16       23        4

Asahi          Nov 13        12       29        5  

Yomiuri        Nov 5         10       25       12

Kyodo          Nov 4         12.1     27.7     10.8

Nikkei         Oct 29        11       27       13  

Asahi          Oct 22        13       36        3    

Kyodo          Oct 3         12.3     31.3     13.9  

Yomiuri        Oct 3         18       36       13      

Asahi          Oct 3         17       30        4  

Nikkei         Sept 28       14       35       12      

Asahi          Sept 11       15       23        5      

Kyodo          Sept 2        12.4     22.2     17.6  

Yomiuri        Aug 13        11       21       16    

Mainichi       Aug 13        14       21       N.A.    

Kyodo          Aug 12        14.3     23.5     10.7    

Asahi          Aug 6         13       23       N.A.  

Yomiuri        July 16       14       18       N.A.    

Kyodo          July 15       14.1     19.2     13.2    

Asahi          July 10       14       22       N.A.