Tokyo (Japan), 20 July (LaPresse/AP) – Exit polls indicate that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's ruling coalition is likely to lose its majority in the upper house, exacerbating political instability in the country. Voters have cast their ballots for half of the 248 seats in the Upper House, the less powerful of the two chambers. Ishiba has set a low target, aiming for a simple majority of 125 seats, which means that his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition allies must win 50 seats to add to the 75 they already hold. Japanese television station NHK predicted in exit polls released after the polls closed that the prime minister's coalition would win between 32 and 51 seats, while other networks predicted just over 40 seats.
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