Japan’s ruling bloc set for upper house majority, may get 2/3: Poll

TOKYO: PM Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc won a solid majority in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday, but it was uncertain whether the coalition and other allies could seal the two-thirds majority needed to keep alive his dream of revising the pacifist constitution, exit polls and media projections showed. Abe, is on track to become Japan’s longest-serving premier if he stays on until November, a stunning comeback after he abruptly ended a first, troubled one-year term in 2007.Turnout, however, looked likely to have fallen below 50% for the first time in an upper house poll since 1995, public broadcaster NHK said. (Reuters)