Japan voters go to polls for two key

Candidates for Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) face those backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in central Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, with the result to be announced later Sunday.

The outcome will provide an indication whether the DPJ, which won a sweeping victory in the August lower house elections, will also be able to control the upper house after a nationwide poll for the chamber is held next summer.

With 123 seats in the 242-member upper chamber, the DPJ and its coalition partners —the People's New Party and the Social Democratic Party — already have a majority, but Hatoyama's party alone holds only 112 seats.

If the DPJ wins two more seats in the upper house Sunday, it would give momentum to Hatoyama, whose first parliamentary session starts Monday.

The by-elections will also be a test for LDP's new leader, Sadakazu Tanigaki, who is seeking to rebuild a once-powerful political party that ruled Japan for more than half a century.

The LDP, led by former prime minister Taro Aso, suffered a historic blow at the hands of Hatoyama's DPJ in the August elections.

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