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Nearly 14m vote in Japan's general election
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-30 19:46 TOKYO: The ministry of internal affairs and communications on Sunday said by Saturday a record 13,984,866 voters cast their ballots in early voting for the ongoing House of Representatives election.
The figure represents 13.40 percent of all eligible voters in Japan, or about 1.56 times higher than in the 2005 lower house election when 8,962,847 cast early votes, said the ministry. Due to the voters' enthusiasm, turnout could also be higher than the previous general election, in which it reached 67. 51 percent, local media reported.
A day earlier Prime Minister Taro Aso, who is also the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also cast his early ballots for Fukuoka Constituency No. 8 and the Kyushu proportional representation bloc. The current early voting system began in 2004. In 2007, some 10. 8 million voters cast early votes in the upper house election. |