Polls have just closed in Japan at 8:00 p.m. local time Sunday evening. Japanese public broadcaster NHK is predicting an overwhelming win for the center-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) based on exit polls. The DPJ should win more than 300 seats. (Only 241 are required for control of the Japanese Parliament.) The center-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for 55 years (with only one 10 month interruption).
The exit polling shows that the DPJ win is even bigger than expected.
The DPJ is promising to end government corruption, revive the economy, and promote social security. Just prior to the election, the government reported a record high rate of unemployment. Exit polling shows that voters were focused on the economy, including the increasing gap between rich and poor in Japan.
An LDP spokesperson has already announced that current Prime Minister Aso will have no choice but to resign as party president given his party's devastating loss.
The DPJ already won a majority in the upper house election two years ago, so the party has a strong governing majority now to put in place its policies. Exit polls suggest that the win is so overwhelming that the DPJ will have no complications holding smaller parties in its "Alliance" coalition and can easily maintain control within its own ranks.
The next Prime Minister of Japan will be DPJ party leader Yukio Hatoyama.
In terms of U.S. relations, the DPJ would like Japan to be a more equal partner. And the party wants to pull back from Japan's limited military cooperation with the U.S. in the Middle East. The party would also like to renegotiate Japan's Status of Forces Agreement with the U.S.