Japan foresees "messy" election
- Published: 17 Nov 2012 at 15.52
- Online news: World
TOKYO: Japan's election next month will be a messy battle, media said Saturday, with more than a dozen parties fielding candidates and some of them trying to forge a "third pole" between the two largest camps.
Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's sixth new prime minister in as many years, dissolved the lower house of parliament on Friday in a political gamble widely expected to strip his centre-left party of power.
Having had almost two-thirds of the 480 lower house seats when they came to power in 2009, Noda's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had lost its majority by Friday morning as a number of lawmakers jumped ship as the vote nears.
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