Japan's ruling coalition loses upper house majority: polls

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition suffered heavy losses in elections Sunday, losing its majority in the upper house of parliament, exit polls said.

Public broadcaster NHK said Abe's coalition had probably lost around half of the seats it was defending.

It projected that the coalition won anywhere between 31 and 43 seats out of the 76 it was defending.

Private broadcaster TBS put the coalition's victory at 34 seats, while Nippon Television gave a figure of 38.