Ruling bloc lowers sights for poll, sets goal as 241-seat threshold

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc's goal in the Aug. 30 Lower House election is simply to keep its majority and grip on power, a far cry from its landslide win in the September 2005 poll, LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda said.

"Looking at the opinion polls, it will be an extremely difficult election," Hosoda, who holds the No. 2 position in the LDP, admitted in a group interview Friday. "We have set our goal between the LDP and New Komeito at the 241 seats necessary for a majority."

In the last election, in 2005, under then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the LDP-New Komeito camp emerged with 327 seats, more than two-thirds of the 480-seat Lower House.