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The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will likely win at least 60 seats, up from the 55 it held that were contested in the July 10 Upper House election, an Asahi Shimbun exit poll showed.

Junior coalition partner Komeito was also projected to hold on to the 14 seats it held.

Together, the parties will easily surpass the 63 seats that represent a majority of contested seats in the chamber. In total, 125 seats are up for grabs.

Combined with uncontested seats, the ruling coalition will maintain its majority in the Upper House, reaching the pre-election goal set by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan seemed unlikely to hold on to the 23 contested seats it held, according to the exit poll.

But Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) was projected to double the number of seats from the six it held that were contested.

Two other opposition parties, the Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Communist Party, were projected to win about five seats, a slight drop from the number held and contested by those two parties.

Reiwa Shinsengumi was projected to pick up more than one seat.

It remained uncertain if three other parties--the Social Democratic Party, the anti-NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) party and Sanseito (political participation party)--would even pick up a seat.

In addition to the ruling coalition, Nippon Ishin and the DPP have also come out in favor of amending the pacifist Constitution.

If the four parties win enough seats to reach a two-thirds majority in the Upper House, they will be able to initiate an amendment. This would assume that uncontested seats held by those parties are also included.

The next step would be to hold a public referendum on the issue of constitutional revision.

The exit poll was conducted in cooperation with other media organizations. Voters were asked how they voted at 3,690 polling stations in all 45 prefectural districts.

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