MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is facing defeat in upcoming parliamentary elections but with six weeks until the vote has time to salvage the situation, a Russian expert said on Wednesday.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, forcing early elections to be held on August 30. His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has led the country for five decades but the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has made big gains in recent regional elections and is ahead in opinion polls.
"The mood inside the party is such that the Liberal Democrats are ready for defeat," said Elgena Molodyakova, director of the Center of Japanese Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies.
She added, however, that it was still too early to be sure how things would turn out in the end.
The government's popularity has suffered in part due to the economy, and Molodyakova said Japanese business leaders would be happy with a change of power.
"Big business is inclined to support the Democratic Party," she said. "The anti-recessionary economic package that was enacted by the government is basically not bad, but some changes in this plan are possible."
The professor said that even if the Democratic Party came to power, there would be little change in the country's policy, particularly on the strategic level. "All these parties are basically liberal-democratic," she said.
The four-year term of the lower house, the House of Representatives, was to expire on September 10, and an election should have been held by October.
The edict on the dissolution was signed by Japanese Emperor Akihito and read before lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, officially ending the parliament's term and starting the election campaign.
Aso was forced into calling the early election by unrest among his Liberal Democrats, as the government's popularity plummeted amid Japan's worsening economic situation and the party suffered a series of defeats at local elections, including the loss of 20 seats in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and other opposition parties have been steadily gaining voters' support.
The LDP currently has 303 seats in the 480-seat lower house, and their coalition partner Komeito has 31. The DPJ has 112 seats but is expected to make big gains.
