Tokyo, July 20 -- Voting has begun in Japan's House of Councillors election, as all eyes are on whether the ruling coalition will be able to maintain its majority amid growing public frustration over rising prices support for emerging parties, Kyodo News reported on Sunday.

As per Kyodo News, the outcomes of this election will be a deciding factor for the fate of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government. A failure to retain control of the upper house would make parliamentary deliberations even more difficult and could potentially cost him the premiership.

125 seats are contested this election cycle. PM Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) needs to win at least 50 to keep its majority in the 248-member Upper House. The part...