Abe's decision-making bloc set to win majority of votes in Japan

The governing parties "have a good chance to reach the 77," said a survey on Thursday and Friday.

Tokyo:

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition is poised to win a strong majority in Japan's Upper House elections this month and consolidate his position as prime minister, local media reported on Saturday.

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, Komeito, are expected to win more than 63 seats, the majority of the 124 seats contested in the July 21 election, Kyodo News announced in its opinion poll.

The ruling parties "have a good chance to reach the 77," said Kyodo, who conducted the poll on Thursday and Friday.

Asahi Shimbun and other newspapers have also said that the ruling coalition should win a "comfortable majority" in the elections.

The two parties control 70 seats in the other half of the undisputed upper house. This means that, depending on the projection, they are ready to secure their majority in the body of 245 seats.

Last year, Parliament voted to increase the number of seats in the house by three out of the current 242.

The House of councillors, as it is officially called the upper house, is the least powerful House in the Japanese bicameral parliament, and half of its seats are elected every three years.

Abe, who has been seeking to revise the pacifist constitution since taking office at the end of 2012, is seeking the two-thirds" super majority " needed to revise the charter in elections.

"This is an election to decide whether to choose the legislators and the parties that take responsibility for the discussions" on the revision of the constitution, Abe told voters in a campaign speech on Thursday.

Local media have predicted that the pro-revision forces, led by Abe'S LDP, are approaching the disputed 85 seats to secure a two-thirds majority in the House.

Japan's constitution, imposed by US forces after World War II, forbids war.

The provisions are popular among the general public, but criticized by nationalists like Abe, who consider them obsolete and punitive.

In addition to a two-thirds majority in both chambers, the revision of the Constitution also requires a majority in a national referendum.

A projected increase in the consumption tax in October and the country's fragile pension system are also among the main issues facing candidates in the run-up to the elections.