Voting began Sunday morning to elect mayors and local assemblies in the second wave of quadrennial unified local elections, with economic revitalization and development policies among the top issues.

Attention is focused on five mayoral elections, including those in the city of Oita and in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, where the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan are backing separate candidates.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party won solid support in the first round of the local elections that wrapped up two weeks ago, winning a majority in assemblies in 41 of the nation's 47 prefectures. The LDP also emerged victorious in the Hokkaido and Oita gubernatorial races, the only two prefectures where the LDP and DPJ squared off.

Local elections have become even more important for the Abe administration this time as it ramps up efforts to reinvigorate flagging regional economies.

His "Abenomics" policies have spurred spending by some consumers through a surge in the Japanese stock market and provided a boost to major exporters by weakening the yen. However, local economies have reaped far fewer benefits from Abe's policies so far.

In all, polls are being held Sunday to elect the mayors of 62 cities, 69 towns and villages and 11 of Tokyo's 23 wards, as well as assemblies in 281 cities, 284 towns and villages and 21 of Tokyo's wards.

Votes were expected to be counted later in the day in most of the elections.

Many local polls in the country are held every four years in April.

Voting in the first round of government-designated major cities' mayoral and assembly elections took place April 12, when gubernatorial and prefectural assembly elections were also held.