The Liberal Democratic Party took 1,309 of the 2,634 seats contested in 44 prefectural assembly elections on Sunday, local election boards said.

The LDP won less than half for the third straight time but marked an improvement from the record low 1,288 it won in the previous election four years ago

New Komeito, one of the LDP's two coalition partners at the national level; the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party; and the Liberal Party also won more seats than four years ago.