Abe projected sweeping win in Japan vote

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being projected a comfortable victory in today’s election, handing him a mandate to harden his already hawkish stance on North Korea and re-energize the world’s number-three economy.

Abe’s conservative coalition is on track to win 311 seats in the 465-seat parliament, according to a projection published by private broadcaster TBS, putting the nationalist blue blood on course to become Japan’s longest-serving leader.

A man holds an electoral leaflet of Japan’s Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Shinzo Abe during an election campaign in Saitama, October 18, 2017. (AFP Photo/ Behrouz Mehri)

The comfortable election win is likely to stiffen Abe’s resolve to tackle North Korea’s nuclear menace, as the key US regional ally seeks to exert maximum pressure on the regime in Pyongyang after it fired two missiles over Japan in the space of a month.

— AFP