INSTANT VIEW-Japan ruling coalition seen keeping majority in upper house

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was projected to keep a majority in the upper house with its junior coalition partner in Sunday's election, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was projected to keep a majority in the upper house with its junior coalition partner in Sunday's election, public broadcaster NHK reported. The widely expected outcome comes two days after the fatal shooting of prominent LDP member and power broker, former premier Shinzo Abe.

The LDP and the Komeito party were likely to win between 69 83 seats out of the 125 contested in Sunday's vote, according to NHK's exit polls. REACTION:

ROBERT WARD, JAPAN CHAIR, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES "No surprises. Need to wait now to see whether the pro-constitutional reform parties have their two-thirds majority. I still think Kishida will move cautiously, even if they do. Change will require considerable political capital - witness the intensity of the 2015 legal changes initiated by Abe to expand the role of the Self Defense Force.

"On defence, the Liberal Democratic Party manifesto promised defence spending would rise to 2% or more of GDP. Clearly, he (Kishida) now has a green light for this, although questions remain over what they'll be spending the money on, where the money will come from."