Japan ruling party misses majority in election, says broadcaster NHK

Japan's ruling LDP party fell short of a majority in snap elections on Sunday for the first time since 2009, national broadcaster NHK projected, in a blow to new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

It was unclear whether Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party would be able to secure a majority in parliament together with its long-term coalition partner, the Komeito party.

Ishiba, 67, took office on October 1 after being narrowly selected last month to lead the LDP, and called a snap election within days of taking office.

The self-confessed defence "geek" and maker of model planes set as his target in the election the coalition winning a majority.

Missing this objective would seriously undermine his position in the LDP and mean finding other coalition partners or leading a minority government.

Voters in the world's fourth-largest economy have been rankled by rising prices and the fallout from a party slush fund scandal that helped sink previous premier Fumio Kishida.

NHK projected that the LDP would win between 153 and 219 seats, short of the 233 needed for a majority in the 465-seat parliament.

Together with Komeito, which is projected 21 to 35 seats, the coalition would hold between 174 and 254 seats.

The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), led by former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, won between 128 and 191, up from 96, NHK projected.

If confirmed by official results, the LDP losing its majority would be the worst result since it lost power 15 years ago.

In Japan's previous general election in 2021, the LDP won a majority in its own right, with 259 seats in parliament's powerful lower house. Komeito had 32.

Opinion polls before the election had suggested that the LDP would fall short of a majority and even that the ruling coalition could end up short as well.

Ishiba has pledged to revitalise depressed rural regions and to address the "quiet emergency" of Japan's falling population through family-friendly measures such as flexible working hours.

But he has rowed back his position on issues including allowing married couples to take separate surnames. He also named only two women as ministers in his cabinet.

He has backed the creation of a regional military alliance along the lines of NATO to counter China, although he has cautioned it would "not happen overnight".

The LDP is one of the democratic world's most successful parties, a one-size-fits-all electoral machine in power for all but four of the last 69 years.

In 1993, the LDP was kicked out of power for the first time, after the dramatic bursting of Japan's 1980s asset bubble and a corruption scandal.

It was last out of power between 2009 and 2012 when it was replaced for a chaotic three years by the centre-left CDP which had to deal with the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.