By DPA
Tokyo : About 100 million eligible voters began casting their ballots Sunday across Japan for the election of half of the 242 seats in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber in the Japanese parliament.
The vote is the first national election since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in September 2006.
The coalition government led by Abe faces a critical challenge to maintain its majority in Sunday's elections at a time when Abe's Liberal Democratic Party was criticized for an accounting scandal in the government pension programme that saw 50 million payments misplaced.
The latest approval ratings for the Japanese cabinet were 28 percent, the lowest since Abe became prime minister in September, after his handpicked ministers continued to be targets of public criticism for their political blunders.
Agriculture Minister Norihiko Akagi was accused of mishandling political funds. Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma resigned after controversial remarks concerning atomic bombings, and scandal-tainted Farm Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka committed suicide.
If Sunday's election leads to the defeat of the coalition government, some analysts say that Abe may have to recast his entire cabinet and could even be forced to resign.
Although, technically, upper house elections are not to select the prime minister, the Sunday's election will be seen as a referendum on Abe's performance.
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