Koizumi tipped to win reelection in Japan

Candidates were making their final pitches Saturday as official campaigning hours were due to end at 8:00 pm (1100 GMT) ahead of the start of voting at 7:00 am Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday).

Opinion polls published by major papers Saturday showed voters would prefer Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to maintain its virtually unbroken 48-year grip on power in a coalition with the Buddhist-backed New Komei and New Conservative parties.

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The Asahi Shimbun's poll of 1,041 voters over two days to Friday found 40 percent of them favoured the LDP-centred government against 33 percent who would back a government led by the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).