Japan’s ruling bloc, made up of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito Party, retained a majority of seats in the upper house of the national parliament following Sunday’s elections. This is evidenced by the summary data of the prefectural election commissions.
⠀
So, by 21:00 local time, the ruling coalition won at least 58 of the 125 seats at stake. To obtain a majority in the upper house of parliament, half of whose members are elected every three years, it was enough for the ruling bloc to get only 55 seats in these elections. At the same time, the LDP won at least 50 seats, Komeito at least eight. However, according to the exit polls of the leading Japanese media, the ruling bloc will receive from 59 to 69 out of 125 new seats following the elections.
According to the exit poll, parties in favor of changing the constitution will take at least 82 seats, which will allow them to form the absolute majority necessary to put forward the initiative to hold a corresponding referendum.
⠀
According to the Ministry of Administrative Affairs and Communications, the turnout at 19:30 local time (13:30 Moscow time) was 30.61%, which is 0.5 percentage points more than three years earlier in similar elections. At the same time, according to the Japanese agency, the number of residents of the country who voted early in the elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament this time was a record – more than 19.6 million people took advantage of the right to early voting, which is 2.5 million more than in 2019.
⠀
Elections are held two days after the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister and head of the largest faction of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe, during a speech to voters.
⠀
Opposition parties called for postponing the voting, but Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed that democracy will not yield to violence.
⠀
Unlike the key lower house, which determines the candidacy of the prime minister and has a decisive vote in passing laws or the budget, the upper house of the Japanese parliament does not have real power. However, having obtained a majority there, the opposition parties could make it difficult for the government to work, slow down the adoption of bills or the budget.
