TOKYO, December 17 (RIA Novosti) - Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its traditional partner New Komeito party won 325 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament during elections on Sunday securing an impressive return to power after three years in opposition.
The results of the voting were shown in live broadcast by all Japanese TV channels and by a dedicated online channel Elections-2012.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan won only 57 seats during the Sunday vote reflecting its failure to keep campaign promises and bring the Japanese economy out of a two-decade stagnation during its three-year reign.
Noda has already announced plans to step down as party chief to take responsibility for the defeat.
According to the Japanese Constitution, the LDP leader Shinzo Abe will be elected as prime minister during an extraordinary parliamentary session on December 26 for the second time in his political career.
Abe headed the nation for a year in 2006-2007 but had to resign following a series of scandals in the government.
Abe, 58, is considered one of the more conservative and hawkish figures in Japanese political elite.
After coming to power in 2006, Abe and his cabinet urged the nation to give up the constitution's pacifist clauses, embark on the formation of powerful armed forces, put a legal stamp of approval on the right of the Japanese army and navy to participate in military operations in any part of the world together with the United States, and set up a government intelligence service modeled after the CIA.
