In an election held in the shadow of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition secured 76 seats and retained a comfortable majority in the Upper House. The LDP alone won 63 seats, or more than half of the 125 up for grabs in voting Sunday.
Pro-constitutional revision forces grabbed more than 170 seats in the House of Councilors, crossing the 166 threshold needed to aim for a first-ever amendment of the 1947 Constitution. The pro-revisionists already have a two-thirds majority in the Lower House.
At the LDP headquarters, the atmosphere was somber, however, lacking the victorious mood typical for a winning party. As Kishida appeared before the media late Sunday night, LDP executives, all wearing dark ties and dresses along with mourning ribbons, held a moment of silence for Abe, who was gunned down two days before the election.
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