Japan vote gives control to Abe’s party

TOKYO — Japan’s prime minister scored a major victory Monday in national elections that returned his ruling coalition to power.

Japanese media said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and a small coalition partner together secured at least 312 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, passing the 310-barrier for a two-thirds majority. Four seats remained undecided.

The victory boosts Abe’s chances of winning another three-year term in September as his party’s leader. That could extend his premiership to 2021, giving him more time to win a reluctant public over to his longtime goal of revising Japan’s pacifist constitution.

More immediately, the win likely means a continuation of the policies Abe has pursued since taking office in 2012 — a hard line on North Korea, close ties with Washington, a loose monetary policy and a push for nuclear energy. Stocks rose in Tokyo on the news.