Japan's ruling coalition was projected to secure a majority of seats contested in parliament's upper house election on Sunday, two days after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), of which Abe was a senior figure, and its junior coalition partner Komeito were on track to win between 69 and 83 of the 125 seats contested in Sunday's vote, according to exit polls by public broadcaster NHK.

The LDP was projected to win 59 to 69 of the upper house seats contested, according the exit polls, up from the 55 it held previously. Reaching 69 seats would give the LDP a majority on its own.

The exit polls show the four parties open to revising the pacifist constitution – the LDP, Komeito, Japan Innovation Party, and the Democratic Party for the People – were projected to maintain their two-thirds majority in the upper house.

Official results are expected on Monday.

The triennial election is a critical test for Kishida to assess voter confidence in the performance of his government since taking office last year.

The voters mainly decided on how well the Kishida government did in bolstering the country's COVID-19 response and scrambling to curb surging prices of energy and everyday items like food to ease the pain on households among other issues.

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)