Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has claimed victory in Sunday's upper house elections. Half of the seats in the 242-member chamber were up for grabs. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party won 55 seats and its partner, the Komeito Party won 14 seats. Altogether, the ruling coalition now has 145 seats in the chamber.

It failed to win the two-thirds majority it was hoping for that would have given it a free hand in amending the country's Pacifist Constitution. However, other like-minded parties and independents' seats could be enough to create that two-thirds "super majority".