TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election on Monday, seeking a fresh term at the helm of the world´s third-largest economy as tensions with North Korea reach fever-pitch.
“I will dissolve the House of Representatives on the 28th of September, Abe told reporters, a precursor to a general election.
A weekend survey by the Nikkei business daily survey showed 44 percent of voters planned to vote for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) versus 8 percent for the main opposition Democratic Party and another 8 percent for a new party launched by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
The Nikkei poll was far more positive for Abe’s prospects that a Kyodo news agency survey that showed his LDP garnering 27.7 percent support, with 42.2 percent undecided.
