The Democratic Party of Japan is expected to make great strides in the House of Councilors election on July 11 and looks set to top the list of parties in the proportional representation section, according to a new survey.

The findings from the Kyodo News random telephone survey of voters nationwide and projection analyses of district-level and proportional representation seats revealed a neck-and-neck race between the DPJ and the Liberal Democratic Party, with the DPJ getting enough of a nod to eclipse the LDP's target of 51 seats.

The survey was conducted Thursday through Saturday on 59,828 households with eligible voters. Of these, 43,605 voters responded, with about 40 percent saying they are undecided on who they will vote for.