TOKYO - VOTERS went to the polls on Sunday in two by-elections for Japan's upper house, in the first test of the popularity of Prime Minister Yuko Hatoyama's one-month old centre-left government.

Candidates for Mr Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) face those backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in central Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, with the result to be announced later on Sunday.

The outcome will provide an indication whether the DPJ, which won a sweeping victory in the August lower house elections, will also be able to control the upper house after a nationwide poll for the chamber is held next summer.

With 123 seats in the 242-member upper chamber, the DPJ and its coalition partners - the People's New Party and the Social Democratic Party - already have a majority, but Mr Hatoyama's party alone holds only 112 seats.

If the DPJ wins two more seats in the upper house Sunday, it would give momentum to Mr Hatoyama, whose first parliamentary session starts on Monday.

The by-elections will also be a test for LDP's new leader, Sadakazu Tanigaki, who is seeking to rebuild a once-powerful political party that ruled Japan for more than half a century. -- AFP