With only a handful of seats left to be declared, the governing LDP-Komeito coalition will fall short of a majority in Japan’s 465-seat parliament. The two parties previously held 279 seats.
It was a good night for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which significantly boosted its seat count to more than 130, from 98. Local media reported party leader Yoshihiko Noda, himself a former PM, as saying: “We now truly are on the eve of a change of government.”
The LDP could remain in power, though, by bringing in new coalition partners, or by forming a minority government that is supported on key issues by rival parties that refuse to formally govern with it.