Poor social care may bring landslide for Japan's Democratic Party

BEIJING, August 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's opposition Democratic Party may secure a landslide victory in Sunday's election, a media survey indicates. If so it would end more than five decades of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Yukio Hatoyama's Democrats have promised to focus spending on households, cut waste and take away control of policy from the hands of bureaucrats, a sharp shift from the business-friendly LDP.

Japanese media predict the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will win by a landslide, ending a deadlock in parliament where the party and its allies control the less powerful upper chamber. Financial markets are said to generally welcome the prospect of smoother policy-making as Japan tries to revive its economy and deal with the challenges of an ageing and shrinking population.

However, some analysts are concerned the party's ambitious spending plans could inflate an already sky-high public debt and push up long-term interest rates.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan has promised to reverse some of the labor laws that many blame for the evaporation of Japan's much-vaunted job for life, as well as increasing spending on child support, healthcare and employment benefits.