Japan's ruling LDP likely to lose sole majority in lower house election: NHK exit poll

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to lose its single-party majority in the House of Representatives in Sunday's general election, public broadcaster NHK said, citing its exit poll.

As of 8 pm local time, when polling stations closed, NHK forecasts showed that it is not clear whether the ruling coalition of LDP and its partner Komeito can secure a majority.

Based on exit polls and other analyses, the ruling coalition is projected to win between 174 and 254 seats, putting the coalition's goal of a simple majority of 233 seats on uncertain ground, NHK said.

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.

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.