Japan’s ruling coalition has lost its majority after snap elections, Japanese media reported early Monday, in a major blow to new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, according to an AFP report. The political developments in the world’s fourth largest economy have come days before the presidential election in the world’s largest economy – the United States.

Ishiba, 67, called Sunday’s election just days after taking office on Oct. 1 in a bid to bolster his position and that of his scandal-plagued Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan almost continuously for seven decades.

But national broadcaster NHK and other media outlets predicted in the hours after polls closed that the LDP – in the party’s worst showing since 2009 – along with its longtime junior coalition party Komeito, had fallen short of the 233 seats needed for a majority in Japan’s lower house.

Failure to reach a majority does not mean a change of government, but the results would make it difficult for Ishiba to get his party’s policies through parliament, and he may need to find a third coalition partner.

Voters in Japan have been rattled by rising prices and the fallout from a party slush fund scandal that helped bring down former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Footage from LDP headquarters showed grim faces as forecasts based on exit polls said Ishiba’s justice and agriculture ministers were likely to lose their seats. Ishiba, a self-confessed security policy geek who likes to make model airplanes, had said his goal in the election was for the coalition to win a majority. Missing this goal would seriously undermine his position in the LDP and mean finding other coalition partners or leading a minority government.

On Sunday, national broadcaster NHK predicted the LDP would win between 153 and 219 seats – short of the 233 needed for a one-party majority in the 465-seat parliament.

If confirmed by official results, the LDP losing its majority would be its worst result since it lost power 15 years ago before being brought back in a landslide in 2012 by the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Pre-election opinion polls had suggested that LDP candidates in many districts were neck-and-neck with those from the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the second-largest in parliament, led by popular former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Forecasts on Sunday suggested the CDP had made significant gains, with NHK indicating it could win between 128 and 191 seats – up from 96.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is the ruling party in Japan?
A1. The ruling party in Japan is the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Q2. Who is the Prime Minister of Japan?
A2. The Prime Minister of Japan is Shigeru Ishiba.