Majority of Japan voters want election sooner - poll

TOKYO (Reuters) - A majority of Japanese voters want a general election earlier than the planned Aug. 30, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday, as the main opposition party kept its lead over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Monday he would dissolve parliament next week for an Aug. 30 election, though some in the LDP still aim to oust the unpopular Aso before the vote.

In the poll by the Yomiuri newspaper, 56 percent of respondents said they want an election before Aug. 30, while 30 percent said Aso's decision for that date was appropriate.

About 36 percent said they plan to vote for the main opposition Democratic Party in the election, up 1 percentage point from the last survey, while 21 percent will vote for the LDP, down 4 points.

An opposition victory in the lower house election would end more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by Aso's business-friendly LDP.

Some 45 percent of respondents saw the Democrats leader Yukio Hatoyama as more suited for the premiership, while 25 percent preferred Aso, the survey showed.

The Democrats are not without their own headaches, though, after Hatoyama apologised for the fact that some people listed as his political donors were already dead.