Abe in last plea to voters on election eve

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TOKYO, Jul 28 (AFP): Beleaguered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Saturday pleaded with voters to trust him to carry out reforms, on the eve of an election predicted to hand a crushing defeat to the conservative leader.
Abe has long championed reforms to erase the legacies of Japan's World War II defeat, including the rewriting of the US-imposed 1947 pacifist constitution.
But the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader has recently refocused his reformist message on fixing the pension system and other economic issues amid slipping popularity.
"The LDP will continue to keep pushing reforms. Please give us strength. Please give us a victory," Abe shouted by microphone at a rally in one of Tokyo's top shopping districts.
With newspaper headlines blaring "Political confusion inevitable after the polls" and "the LDP in adverse winds," Abe was due to tour bustling urban areas on the last campaign day in an apparent bid to attract non-affiliated voters.
Ichiro Ozawa, who heads the main opposition Democratic Party, went to rural areas in a strategy aimed at appealing to farmers and others who feel left behind by the economic reforms under Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.