Less than half the population of eligible voters turned out for the 17^th Upper House elections. The turnout of 44.52 % marked a record low, and was significantly below the previous record of 50.72% reached in the 1992 elections.

The public went to the polls on a Sunday, with polling stations open from 7:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. The cumulative turnout throughout the day persistently lagged behind, that of the previous elections. By mid-day barely 20% had bothered to vote.

It is thought that the most dismal turnout ever was due to a higher than average number of floating voters electing to abstain, the floating voters (or muto-ha,) account for 60% of the voting population. Their lack of. response clearly indicates that a large number of Japanese are being turned off  to politics.

A middle-aged man, near one polling station said, “Japanese politics has become dull, but I’ll still vote because it’s my right.” However, he admitted that he still didn’t know who he was going to vote for.