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Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 23:44
Japan's early voting for upcoming election begins
By Xinhua
Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 23:44 By Xinhua

A man attending an opposition party's election campaign rally holds up a board written "NO, Abe administration" in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture Oct 11, 2017. Campaigning began October 10 for the October 22 lower house election. (KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP)

TOKYO – Japan's early voting system began Wednesday nationwide for the upcoming general election on Oct 22, with those unable to vote on the scheduled day casting their ballots early.

Following official campaigning by party candidates and independents running in the lower house election race beginning Tuesday, polling stations, such as one inside the municipal office of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture in western Japan, started accepting ballots.

Stations under the early voting system will remain open for casting votes until Oct 21, a day before the voting day

According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, voters were casting their ballots at the polling station in Matsuyama City after writing down the reasons why they cannot vote on the voting day.

READ MORE: Japan election campaign begins, PM Abe pledges stability

The upcoming general election, called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with the dissolution of the lower chamber of Japan's bicameral parliament on Sept 28, will be the first nationwide election that will see 18 and 19-year-olds eligible to vote.

NHK reported that, due to the new, younger demographic of voters expected to cast their ballots, a number of polling stations have been set up inside educational institutions, such as at universities and high schools.

Stations open for the early voting system will be available for voters to cast their ballots until Oct 21, a day before the voting day.

For eligible voters wanting to cast their ballots from outside Japan, ballot stations have been set up at 223 locations abroad. These include at embassies and consulates.

This will accommodate the 101,000 Japanese who are registered to vote overseas, NHK said, adding that in the South Korean capital of Seoul, voting began on Wednesday morning.

ALSO READ: Japan's Abe faces new challenge as he calls snap election

Around 2,500 Japanese living or studying in South Korea are registered there to vote, and embassy officials will be charged with bringing the ballots back to Japan to be counted on Oct 22.

Regardless of when the voting begins overseas, as there is some variation from region to region, all ballots must be cast by next Monday.

In this Oct 8, 2017 photo, Japan's Prime Minister and President of ruling Liberal Democratic Party Shinzo Abe, left, gestures as he answers questions beside Tokyo Governor and head of the Party of Hope Yuriko Koike during a political debate ahead of the general elections at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. (TORU YAMANAKA / AFP)

Abe dissolved the more powerful lower chamber of parliament on Sept 28, stating that he needed to get a fresh mandate on ways to deal with ongoing security issues, as well as on spending from the planned consumption tax hike.

The timing of the snap election, political observers have attested, was to give opposition parties little time to fully gear up for the election and create a viable threat to the ruling coalition.

Political watchers and opposition parties have also taken aim at Abe's move as being, in part, a bid to avoid being grilled in the Diet over as yet unconcluded allegations of cronyism and influence-peddling scandals.

The ruling camp, in response, effectively realigned itself.

The newly-formed Party of Hope, headed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, and the upstart Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), headed by former chief Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano and their affiliates, have garnered a great deal of public attention and gained traction since their rapid formation.  

The election is thought by political analysts to be a three horse race between Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party coalition, Koike's Party of Hope, which is working closely with the Nippon Ishin party (Japan Restoration Party) and Edno's CDPJ, which itself is working closely with the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.

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