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By Mari Yamaguchi

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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling conservative party is bracing for a blow to its comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament in Sunday’s election due to public anger over financial scandals and dissatisfaction with a stagnant economy.

Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party is certain to lose its majority in the 465-seat House of Representatives, the most powerful in Japan’s bicameral parliament, according to exit polls by public broadcaster NHK. . It remains unclear whether his ruling coalition with junior partner Komeito can retain the majority.

The results could weaken Ishiba’s grip on power and if he fails to get his party’s policies passed through Parliament, he may have to find a third partner.

Ishiba took office on October 1, replacing Fumio Kishida, who resigned after failing to appease public opinion over widespread slush fund practices among Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. Ishiba immediately ordered early elections in hopes of building support using his outspoken and reformist image.

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A total of 1,344 candidates, including a record 314 women, are in the running. The first results are expected in a few hours.

Ishiba has set a goal of retaining a 233-seat majority for the ruling coalition between the LDP and his Buddhist-backed Komeito. NHK exit polls indicated the LDP alone was expected to win 153 to 219 seats, down sharply from the 247, a comfortable single majority it previously held. Komeito was expected to win between 21 and 35 seats.

Ishiba, in his final speeches Saturday in Tokyo, apologized for his party’s mismanagement of funds and pledged to “restart as an equal, fair, humble and honest party.” He said only the ruling LDP coalition can lead Japan responsibly, with its reliable experience and policies.

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Once a popular politician known for his criticism even of his own party’s policies, Ishiba has also seen support for his government collapse in recent weeks.

The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is led by centrist leader Yoshihiko Noda, who briefly served as prime minister when the LDP fell from power between 2009 and 2012.

Noda’s party is expected to make significant progress, with exit polls suggesting a considerable increase, from 98 to 191 seats. Noda says Sunday’s election is a rare chance for a change of government, which will be the most effective political reform, although his party is struggling to find other opposition groups with which to cooperate.

At a polling station in downtown Tokyo early Sunday, a number of voters said they were considering the corruption scandal and economic measures. But analysts say Ishiba’s LDP is likely to remain the largest party in Japan’s parliament, with voters skeptical of the opposition’s ability and inexperience.

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“Public criticism of the slush fund scandal has intensified and it will not go away easily,” said Izuru Makihara, professor of politics and public policy at the University of Tokyo. “There is a growing sense of fairness and people reject the privileges granted to politicians. » Makihara suggested that Ishiba needed bold political reform measures to regain public trust.

Ishiba pledged to revitalize the rural economy, combat Japan’s declining birth rate and strengthen defense. But her cabinet has old faces, only two women, and was seen as an alienated member of the scandal-tainted faction led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ishiba quickly retreated from his previous support for the option of a double surname for married couples and the legalization of same-sex marriage, an apparent compromise for the party’s influential ultra-conservatives.

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His popularity has plummeted due to “the gap between what the public expected from him as prime minister and the reality of what he delivered as prime minister,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a political analyst at The Asia Group.

The LDP is also being tested Sunday for its ability to break with the legacy of Abe, whose policies focused on security, trade and industry but largely ignored equality and diversity, and his nearly eight-year rule led to corruption, experts say.

There could be attempts at regrouping between opposition parties to decide whether to cooperate with each other or join the ruling coalition, political observers say.

Potential new partners for the LDP include the People’s Democratic Party, a splinter group from the CPDJ, which calls for lower taxes, and the conservative Japan Innovation Party, although both currently deny a possible coalition with the LDP.

The PLD, whose dissolution of most factions that once helped rally support to advance elections and policy, is less cohesive and could enter the era of short-lived prime ministers. Ishiba is expected to last at least until the ruling bloc approves major budget plans in late December.

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AP video journalist Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

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