Abe takes aim at rivals, focuses on sound policy in election campaigning

Tokyo

ELECTION campaigning began in earnest in Japan on Tuesday with conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aiming to shake off suspected cronyism scandals and fend off the challenge from an upstart new party to extend his near five-year hold on power.

The Oct 22 election pits Mr Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition against the less than one-month-old Party of Hope, headed by popular Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, a former LDP lawmaker often floated as a possible first female Japanese premier.