According to the Japan Times the big parties are worried about a lower turnout in the polls than previous elections. The last Upper house election in 2010 had 57.7% turnout and this election has been expected to have a 52-55% turnout.

A senior LDP official said;

The higher the voter turnout, the better our chances of winning, due to high public support for the party this time.

Full story Major parties concerned about voter turnout.

In another story it seems that evacuees of the Fukushima disaster have been largely ignored by campaigners who are said to have been concentrating on the capital and other large cities.

Elderly evacuees have been left high and dry over the campaign policies of candidates with no information readily available. Although online voting restrictions have been lifted and computers were delivered to shelters, few know how to use them. One 57 year old voter who has been living in a former high school since the Tsunami said;

“I just want the nuclear plant issue to be tackled properly and resolved. The lifting of a ban on online election campaigning has no major benefit for us, only a handful of the evacuees can use them. We don’t have easy access to information about Fukushima here. There are few tools we can use to learn about the policies of the candidates.

Politicians ignore nuclear evacuees

Voting in the Upper house elections close at 11 am gmt (about 5 mins from now) and the first exit polls are also due shortly after.