Two years ago the Liberal Democratic Party, in opposition, won a landslide victory in the general election, putting Shinzo Abe in office for a second time as prime minister. But his mandate was less than meets the eye. Abe himself saw the results as a rejection of the then ruling Democratic Party of Japan rather than support for the LDP.

And in the past two years, trust in Abe's governance has faded in Japan. Abenomics, as his economic policies are known, was supposed to get the country growing again. His report card, however, offers little to cheer people up. Japan is back in recession, and people are tightening their purse strings. A national election will cost as much as 60 billion yen ($ 510 million) in taxpayers' money, and amid a run of dismal economic news, ordinary people are growing more vocal in their complaints that Abenomics is doing little for them.

This would have been fertile ground for an effective opposition. But although the shine is starting to come off Abe's popularity, Japan's political landscape has not changed in the past two years. Voters seem to have little choice but to keep Abe in power or stay home on Dec 14.

The Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, has not pulled itself together since its fall from power, and it has failed to present its own prescriptions for ending deflation. Other opposition parties, or the "third force", simply have no track record of governing. This group was once taken as a rising political force to challenge Japan's two big ruling and opposition parties, yet these parties have not convinced enough voters that they are viable alternatives. Worse, in cases of tarnishing their credentials, some just stooped to ally themselves with the powerful LDP by supporting its controversial agenda on issues such as the state secret law.

Knowing that support for the ruling coalition of his LDP and the New Komeito Party is still more than the opposition camp can musterslightly more than 25 percent of people are likely to vote for the LDP and only 9.4 percent for the DJPAbe has used the economic situation as a ruse to call an election.