Abe suffers crushing defeat: exit polls

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition on Sunday suffered a crushing defeat, exit polls said, in an election that is likely to put pressure on the conservative leader to quit.

Exit polls said Abe's coalition was on course to lose half of the seats it was defending in the election for the upper house, which will come under opposition control. Official results were expected later.

Public broadcaster NHK projected that the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition won anywhere between 31 and 43 seats out of the 76 it was defending.

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

Abe, who has championed building a more assertive nation proud of its past, has come under fire over a raft of scandals including the government's mismanagement of the pension system.