The elections are underway in Japan. Right now, as I write this, voting is under way in Japan in a general election which looks set to bring a historic change of government. Opinion polls predict victory for the Democratic Party of Japan after more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Japan is suffering record unemployment and its economy is struggling to emerge from a bruising recession. Polls close at 2000 (1100 GMT) on Sunday and Japanese media will announce exit polls immediately afterwards.

Turnout was more than 21% before midday in Japan, the internal affairs ministry said - nearly 1% higher than in 2005 when elections saw the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi’s LDP returned with a significant majority.