日本上议院竞选正式拉开序幕

 　　TOKYO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Japan on Thursday officially kicked off the election campaign for the House of Councillors, the upper house in the Diet, with ruling coalition's vow¹ to retake the chamber².

　　Half of the 242 seats in the upper house are up for grabs every three year under the combination of constituencies and proportional representation, while about 430 candidates are expected to compete for the 121 rotating seats this time.

　　The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) head by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, along with its ruling ally the New Komeito Party, has to secure 63 seats to win a majority in the chamber, as they already hold 59 seats that will not be contested this time.

　　As of now, the opposition³ parties remain the majority in the upper house, with the largest party in the chamber, the Democratic Party of Japan, holding 86 seats, making the Japanese Diet a divided parliament as the ruling camp has an overwhelming majority in the more powerful lower house.

　　The upper house election is set to start on July 21 and the leaders of the political parties will hit streets to call for supports in the 17-day campaign period.

1 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。