Voter turnout hits record 69% in Japan's lower house election

TOKYO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Voter turnout hit record highs of 69.28 percent in single-seat districts and of 69.27 percent in proportional representation segments in Sunday's House of Representatives election, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Monday.

That a record number of voters cast early ballots before Sunday was believed to be the key factor behind the record turnout, which topped the previous respective highs of 67.51 percent and 67.46 percent in the last general election four years ago.

Statistics showed that eligible voters on the election day amounted to 103,949,442, of which 107,919 were residing overseas.

Overseas voter turnout stood at 26.09 percent for the single-seat constituency section and 26.73 percent for the proportional representation blocks.

A record number of about 13.98 million people cast their ballots in the general election, some 5.02 million more than the previous one, according to the ministry.