Japan goes to polls after prime minister Shinzo Abe calls snap election

Japan goes to the polls on Sunday after prime minister Shinzo Abe called a snap election he hopes will give his Liberal Democratic party a greater mandate for economic reforms.

The election caught almost everyone by surprise, not least voters and the opposition parties. Surveys show that most people question the need to go to the polls again, just two years after Mr Abe and the LDP were elected by a landslide.

His approval ratings are at their lowest since he took office in December 2012. Mr Abe called the election after GDP data showed that Japan had slipped into recession. – (Guardian service)