A big victory in sight for Abe, and Abenomics

SHINZO Abe could be heading for a landslide election win. A big victory for the Japanese prime minister would revive investor confidence in Japan's economic reforms and help shore up his anti-deflation campaign.

According to most recent projections by Japanese media, Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could garner 300 or more of the 475 seats in Parliament's lower house in the Dec 14 poll. Including the smaller Komeito party would almost certainly take the ruling alliance above the 317-seat threshold it needs for a super majority with veto powers over the upper house.

A convincing win for Mr Abe would be something of a surprise. The prime minister was forced to call the snap poll barely two years into his term after an April increase in Japan's sales tax tipped the economy into a recession. Mr Abe's own popularity was slipping before he delayed a planned second increase in the tax by 18 months and sought a fresh mandate.