The coalition led by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has lost its majority in parliament which US its worst result for over a decade.
Provisional results have shown opposition parties secured more than half the seats in the lower house.
With 22 seats left to declare, the LDP and its coalition partner, the much smaller Komeito, had gained 208 seats against the opposition’s 235 on Sunday.
A party needs a majority of 233 seats in the lower house of Parliament to govern alone.
The result of the general election has triggered uncertainty about how the world’s fourth-largest economy will be governed.