ANKARA

Millions of Japanese citizens will head to the polls Sunday to elect 125 lawmakers for the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of parliament, seen as critical to the minority government of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The upper house consists of 248 members, who serve six-year terms, with elections every three years to fill half of the seats. This year, voters will elect the usual 124 members, with an additional seat left vacant.

More than 104 million registered voters are eligible to cast ballots in the July 20 elections between 7 am to 8 pm local time (2200GMT Saturday to 1100GMT Sunday), where 519 candidates are vying for the seats.

Some 9.8 million, around 9.48% of eligible voters, have already cast ballots between July 4 and 13 in early voting.

Voters will cast two votes: one for 75 constituency seats, which are directly elected, and another 50 seats elected through proportional representation.

Paper ballots that are provided at polling stations will be used to cast votes.

The name of the voter’s preferred candidate from the electoral district is written before a party’s name or a candidate’s name for proportional representation can be chosen.

The ruling coalition, comprising Prime Minister Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner Komeito, currently holds 75 seats, but to maintain a majority in the upper house it needs to win at least 50 seats from 125 up for grabs.

Campaigning began July 3, with key issues including rising prices, regional security, ties with the US, foreign policy as well as the future of Japan’s strained social security system taking front and center.

The LDP-Komeito lost its majority in the lower house election in October, forcing Ishiba to lead a minority government with support from smaller opposition parties.

Early polls suggest a tight race, with media reports suggesting the LDP was underperforming and the coalition was likely to lose control of the upper house.

Results are expected late Sunday.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid