Japan's ruling coalition on edge as LDP falls short of majority in general election: NHK

TOKYO -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito are at risk of losing their lower house majority in Sunday's general election, after exit polls showed the LDP is set to lose its single-party majority, public broadcaster NHK projected.

As of 8 pm local time, when polling stations closed, NHK forecasts showed that the ruling coalition is projected to win between 174 and 254 seats in the House of Representatives, putting the bloc's goal of a simple majority of 233 seats on uncertain ground.

For the LDP alone, projected seat numbers range from 153 to 219, making it almost certain that the party will fall short of an outright majority in the lower house of parliament.

Meanwhile, its partner Komeito is expected to win between 21 and 35 seats.

The LDP, led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and Komeito need to secure 233 seats to maintain a majority in the 465-seat chamber. The LDP previously had 247, enough for a majority on its own, while Komeito had 32.

Since the 2012 election, when the LDP returned to power after being ousted in 2009, it has won a majority in the 465-seat lower house on its own in four consecutive elections.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is certain to make significant gains and is projected to secure between 128 and 191 seats, up from its pre-election count of 98 seats, NHK said.

This increase would bolster the opposition's influence in the Diet chamber and could affect the ruling coalition's ability to pass legislation smoothly, it added.

On election day, NHK conducted an exit poll at over 4,000 polling stations nationwide, gathering responses from approximately 318,000 voters out of 492,000 surveyed -- a 64.8-percent response rate.