TOKYO _ Japan's ruling party suffered a major loss in parliamentary elections Sunday and was set to lose its majority in the upper house, while the leading opposition party made huge gains, according to exit polls broadcast by Japanese television networks.

Public broadcaster NHK said Abe intended to stay on, but Kyodo News agency reported that the party's No. 2 official may resign to take responsibility.

Up for grabs were 121 seats in the 242-member upper house of parliament. While last-minute surveys indicated Abe's LDP and its coalition partner the New Komei Party had been regaining ground, exit polls showed the coalition far behind the 64 seats needed to keep its majority.

According to NTV, a major commercial network, the LDP was set to win 38 seats and the New Komei just 9, compared with 59 for the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

The results would give the ruling coalition a total of 104 seats, down from the 132 it had before the elections and short of the 121 needed for a majority. The Democrats by contrast, would emerge with 111 seats, up from 83.

The network based its forecast on exit polls broadcast shortly after the voting ended Sunday night. Other networks had similar projections.

"The results appear to be very severe," Liberal Democratic Party deputy chief Nobuteru Ishihara said at party headquarters.

Sunday's election was the biggest test yet for Abe, who took office less than a year ago as Japan's youngest prime minister amid soaring support ratings. His popularity, however, has plunged amid public outrage over millions of lost pension records and scandals that spurred two ministers to resign and another to kill himself.

Opposition leaders immediately jumped on the results as proof the tide had turned against Abe.

"I think there was a lot of hope put on our party," Takaaki Matsumoto, policy chief for the Democratic Party of Japan, said of the exit polls.

A loss wouldn't immediately threaten the political grip of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan in an almost unbroken succession of administrations since it was formed in 1955. The upper house is largely ceremonial, and the LDP would keep control over the lower house, which chooses the prime minister and can override most votes in the upper house.

But a big loss could put Abe under pressure to step down, possibly ushering in an era of political gridlock.

Resigning under such circumstances is rare, but not unprecedented.

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