Thirty-eight per cent of voters will vote for candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party at Sunday’s Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, according to an opinion poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

While the Democratic Party of Japan currently holds the most assembly seats, only 10 per cent of respondents said they will vote for the party’s candidates in the election, which is seen by both ruling and opposition parties as a bellwether for next month’s House of Councillors contest.

So-called third force parties also saw sluggish support. Five per cent of respondents said they will vote for Your Party, while 4 per cent favoured Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party).

LDP coalition partner New Komeito garnered 7 per cent in support, and 6 per cent of respondents said they will vote for Japanese Communist Party candidates.

The results are believed to reflect the high approval rating of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet. Forty per cent of the respondents said they will vote for the LDP in the proportional-representation segment of the upper house election, leading the figures for all parties.

In a similar opinion poll conducted before a Tokyo election in 2009, the DPJ fetched the most support with 29 per cent, ahead of the LDP’s 17 per cent. The election results reflected those in the poll--the DPJ gained 54 assembly seats, while the LDP grabbed 38.

In the most recent poll, 24 per cent of respondents said they have not decided who they will vote for, dropping sharply from the 2009 survey’s 43 per cent.

Seventy-three per cent of respondents said they have “great interest” or “some interest” in the metropolitan assembly election, dropping 8 percentage points from the 2009 poll. Sixty per cent said they will definitely vote, down 4 percentage points.

Regarding the question of parties they are willing to vote for the proportional-representation segment of the upper house election, the DPJ and Komeito both garnered 7 per cent support, far behind the LDP’s 40 per cent. Your Party, the JCP and Ishin no Kai received support from 6 per cent, 5 per cent and 4 per cent of respondents, respectively.

Meanwhile, 73 per cent of respondents expressed approval of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The poll was conducted by phone on Saturday and Sunday. Telephone numbers were selected through random-digit dialing. Among 2,390 households with eligible voters, 1,486 people, or 62 per cent, gave valid responses.