Abe secures extended mandate for policies in low turnout election

Tokyo

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political gamble in calling a snap election paid off last night as exit polls gave his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, a commanding majority in the powerful lower house of parliament.

Exit polls conducted by media suggested that the coalition partners had won more than 317 seats in parliament's 475-seat lower house, and almost certainly enough to secure a joint two-thirds "super majority" and override any opposition from the upper house.