The election took place on Sunday, with 125 of the 248 Senate seats being directed to elections up to six years’ term.
Preliminary results on Monday showed that the LDP and its Komeito Coalition Party had won 47 seats. This is three shy of the minimum 50 the Union needs to maintain its majority, Asahi Shimbun reported. The LDP and Komeito total had a total of 75 uncontested seats.
The coalition also lost 19 seats from what it had before the vote.
The election also comes shortly after the LDP coalition, which lost a majority in the House in October. In other words, this is the first time in the party’s 70-year history that it has led a coalition government without a majority in either house.
The upset is as LDP struggles to overcome a massive corruption scandal that includes millions of slash funds to raise campaigns and an increase in cost of living in Asian countries.
MA/PR