THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 31, 2021 at 18:35 JST
Voting got off to a sluggish start in the Oct. 31 Lower House election but began to pick up a bit as the day progressed.
The election is being held with a new prime minister at the helm and opposition parties putting up a united front in the hope of forcing a change in government.
Turnout as of 6 p.m. was 31.64 percent, an increase of 1.65 percentage points from four years ago, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
It also announced that 20,584,847 voters cast their ballots early. The figure represents 19.49 percent of all voters and a decrease of 795,120 in comparison with four years ago.
As of Oct. 18, there were 105,622,759 eligible voters.
Polling stations close at 8 p.m.
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