Japanese prime minister dissolves Diet's lower house
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Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday dissolved the lower house of the Diet, paving the way for elections next month that were expected to put him out of a job.
Voters are to go to the polls December 16, and polls showed Noda's Democratic Party of Japan would suffer a humiliating defeat.
The top vote-getter was expected to be the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which would return Shinzo Abe to the premiership after he served one year in 2006 and 2007.
No party was expected to take a majority, however, so a coalition government was expected.//DPA
