The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) beat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) by one seat in the upper house election held Sunday.  

The LDP took 49 seats, missing the 51 targets to maintain the previous level in the chamber and seven seats fewer than the number required for a majority.

There are 121 seats up for grabs in the 242-member House of Councilors. Votes were polarized as the rest minor parties all missed their targets. The New Komeito Party of the ruling coalition garnered 11 seats. The Japan Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party only took four and two seats separately.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would face mounting pressure from members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to step down due to the result.

But the premier has rebuffed the demand. "There will be no issue of responsibility if the coalition takes a majority," Koizumi said in a televised interview, referring to the combined majority of the ruling bloc. In addition, the LDP still enjoys a dominance in the powerful lower house.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan made another considerable gain in the election, taking 12 more seats than the share to be contested. The party achieved a major success in the lower house election last year, arousing expectations for a two-party political system in Japan.

Upper house members have a six-year term and half of the seats in the chamber are up for election every three years.

Legally, the upper house election does not give rise to government reshuffle.

Koizumi acknowledged that the poor performance largely stemmed from public anger over his pension reforms and the deployment of Self Defense-Forces in Iraq.

Despite the setback and calling for his step-down, Koizumi is expected to stay on because of an absence of strong challengers. He's tenure as party leader ends in September 2006.

Preliminary turnout is around 56 percent, according to the Kyodo News tally.

Koizumi dismissed a call to dissolve the House of Representatives for a general election in the near future.

The premier also said neither LDP Secretary General Shinzo Abe nor LDP upper house caucus leader Mikio Aoki will have to step down from their posts over the election result. The two, in turn, gave firm endorsement to Koizumi.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka won for the first time a ticket of parliament.

Takenaka, chief architect of Koizumi's reform policies, said his victory was the result of high marks given to three years of structural reforms under the Koizumi administration and pledged to accelerate them.

Backgrounder: Japan's upper house election

Japan kicked off the upper house election early Sunday after two weeks of neck-and-neck competition between the ruling and opposition parties.

The number of seats in the upper house will be reduced by five to 242 in this election. Upper house members have a six-year term and half of them are contested every three years.

Legally, the upper house election does not give rise to government reshuffle.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi set a moderate target of gaining 51 seats to maintain the status quo. It held 116 seats before the election and needs to win 56 seats to obtain an outright majority without its coalition partner.

Although Koizumi has been reminding voters of welcoming domestic economic recovery and easing relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, media polls showed it would be hard for the LDP to achieve its goal due to the public outrage over the unpopular pension reforms laws and deployment of the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq.

The major opposition Democratic Party of Japan intends to win at least 50 seats. It has been calling for an integrated national pension system and a review on Japan's military presence in Iraq. The party made a considerable advance in the House of Representatives election last year and is likely to beat the LDP in Sunday's election, according to pre-election surveys.

The New Komeito party, the LDP's coalition partner, aims to retain all 10 of its seats at stake.

The Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party are struggling to keep their weak voices in the upper house.

Should the LDP fail to realize its goal, the combined seats with the New Komeito party are expected to secure a majority. In addition, the party still wields dominance in the powerful lower house alone.