Media persons wait for the start of the ballot counting with candidates' posters of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan in the background at the party's election center in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009. Japanese casted ballots Sunday in hotly contested parliamentary elections in which the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party, battered by a laggard economy and voter desire for change after more than half a century of virtual one-party rule, was expected to suffer an overwhelming defeat. AP Photo logo AP Photo 2 months ago

Media persons wait for the start of the ballot counting with candidates' posters of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan in the background at the party's election center in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009. Japanese casted ballots Sunday in hotly contested parliamentary elections in which the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party, battered by a laggard economy and voter desire for change after more than half a century of virtual one-party rule, was expected to suffer an overwhelming defeat.