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| Japan election: Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition secures large majority, exit polls suggest | Japan election: Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition secures large majority, exit polls suggest |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Japanese voters have returned Prime Minster Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition to power in national elections, exit polls suggest. | |
| Japanese media released result projections shortly after polls closed. Mr Abe dissolved the lower house less than a month ago, forcing the snap election. | |
| He judged that the timing was right for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party to call an election, or at least better than waiting until the end of its term next year. | |
| Up for grabs were 465 seats in the more powerful lower house, which chooses the Prime Minister. | |
| His coalition was set to win 311 seats, keeping its two-thirds “super majority”, an exit poll by TBS television showed. Some other broadcasters had the ruling bloc slightly below the two-thirds mark. | |
| An election victory would boost Mr Abe’s chances to head his party for another three years after his current term ends next September. | |
| It could extend his premiership to 2021, giving him more time to pursue his longtime goal of revising Japan’s postwar constitution. | |