Noda quits as party chief and concedes DPJ's defeat

Hayashiguchi worries that the LDP's tough talk will aggravate the tension caused by the territorial dispute between Japan and China.

"With a view to the years ahead, I hope that the two countries can remain at peace," she said.

Hayashiguchi called on the Japanese government to formulate and implement policies on the country's present problems, such as the national pension.

In a campaign speech in Iruma, Saitama prefecture, on Saturday, LDP leader Shinzo Abe spoke of his party's new economic measures. He said his party was one step away from overcoming deflation when it was in power.

Japan's main opposition leader, Shinzo Abe (right) of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the party secretary-general, Shigeru Ishiba pose for photos at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday as they place a rosette on the name of a candidate elected in parliamentary elections. JUNJI KUROKAWA / ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Based on this, we will, without fail, lift the country out of deflation by implementing three policies — a more powerful financial policy, fiscal policy and growth strategy," he said.

"Our ability to restore public trust in politics is being put to the test," he added.

The LDP seems to have won back Japanese voters after confidence in its biggest rival, the DPJ fell over the past three and a half years. Formed in a merger of several opposition parties, the DPJ, swept to power in 2009 to end more than half a century of almost unbroken LDP rule.

Voters were smitten by the DPJ's big-picture pledges to change: break up the "iron triangle" between the powerful bureaucracy, business and LDP lawmakers, pay heed to consumers' interests and put elected officials in charge of policy. They also liked promises of free schooling, bigger child-support allowance and toll-free expressways.

But the party's support slumped over what voters saw as broken promises, a confused response to last year's tsunami and nuclear crisis and Noda's embrace of unpopular causes such as the tax hike and the restart of nuclear reactors.

The LDP's campaign platform called for stronger defense and conservative nuclear energy policies.

AFP contributed to this story.

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