Tokyo, Jan. 30 -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is on course to win a standalone majority in the Feb. 8 lower house election, opinion polls showed, a result that would hand Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a decisive mandate and consolidate her hold on power.
The LDP, which has dominated Japanese politics for most of the post-war period, has governed almost continuously since its founding in 1955, apart from brief spells out of office in 1993-1996 and 2009-2012.
The campaign, which began on Tuesday, has been closely watched amid uncertainty over how the LDP would perform without the backing of long-time coalition partner Komeito, with whom it governed for 26 years, or formal coordination with its current junior partner, the J...