Japan's ruling LDP extends lead ahead of Feb. 8 election: Kyodo poll

TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, has extended its lead from last week in a Kyodo News poll on the proportional representation race ahead of the Feb. 8 election, with 36.1 percent backing the party, up 6.9 percentage points, the survey showed Sunday.

The Centrist Reform Alliance, a new major opposition force, was second with 13.9 percent, up 2.0 points. At the single-constituency level, the survey conducted over two days from Saturday showed that 44.0 percent would vote for ruling camp-backed candidates in the House of Representatives election, while 26.5 percent would back opposition rivals.