Japan votes in snap poll

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's party looks set for a huge win on Sunday in an election that will allow the conservative leader to claim a fresh mandate for his reflationary policies to revive Japan's long-stagnant economy.

Voting began at 7 a.m. for an election that the premier has cast as a referendum on his "Abenomics" strategy to end deflation and generate growth. Media exit polls, which have proved reliable in the past, will come out at 8 p.m. (1100 GMT).

Abe called the vote after just two years in office in a gamble originally seen as potentially costing his party seats. But media projections have said his long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could win more than 300 seats in the 475-member lower house, possibly its biggest victory since its founding nearly six decades ago.

Together, the LDP and its junior partner are forecast to keep their two-thirds "super-majority", ensuring the smooth operation of parliamentary busi