The 296 seats won by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's general election comes second only to the 300 Lower House seats it secured in the 1986 election.

But the forces that propelled the LDP to Sunday's stunning victory in the House of Representatives race were quite different from those the party had at its command in the 1980s, which for some made the landslide victory even more shocking.

This time, the LDP rode to power with the support of urban voters who had no party affiliation -- the segment of the electorate long considered the last stronghold of the opposition parties.