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2nd LD Writethru: Japan's ruling camp to win majority in upper house election

Xinhua, July 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Japanese ruling camp led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to win a majority in Sunday's upper house election, according to exit polls by local media.

Half seats in the 242-member chamber was contested in the election and the ruling camp is likely to win over 61 seats, said an exit poll by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is likely to win 54 to 61 seats. If it gains 57 seats in the poll, it will secure an easy majority by its own in the upper house for the first time in 27 years. Its small ruling partner of the Komeito party is expected to win 13 to 15 positions.

The main opposition party of the Democratic Party secured 20 seats in the contest and is expected to get 26 to 32 seats this time, while the Japan Communist Party elected 5 seats as of now, according to the polls.

It remained unclear now that whether the ruling camp that groups LDP and the Komeito, as well as other two small opposition parties could win together two-thirds majority in the chamber so as to launch a Constitution amendment motion in the future.

Combined with their uncontested seats in the upper house, the Constitution review bloc needs to secure 78 positions in the contest on Sunday so as to take a two-thirds majority in the upper house. Another exit poll by Japan's Kyodo News said that the Constitution review bloc is close to getting two-thirds majority in the upper house.

However, voters here expressed their contradictory feeling over the election. A 30-year-old voter who identified herself as Shibata told Xinhua outside a polling office at Shibuya earlier the day that "I am against amending the Constitution, because it's likely to drag Japan into war. But I still voted for the LDP, because I don't like the opposition parties either. People say that the LDP is going to change the constitution. I really don't know what to do."

Voter turnout was 32.49 percent as of 6 p.m., down 0.15 percentage points from the previous upper house election in 2013, according to government data. Endit