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Monday July 30, 12:39 AM 6TH LD: Abe intends to stay in power despite major defeat for LDP (Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING DETAILS) Japan's ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is bracing itself for a crushing defeat in Sunday's upper house election, facing the loss of its majority in the chamber for the first time since 1998, a result that could increase pressure on Abe to step down. Abe, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party, said, "This humiliating setback is my responsibility." But he appeared determined to hang on to power, repeatedly saying he would do so in a series of television interviews late Sunday night. "Our nation building has just begun," he said in one of the programs. "I would like to continue to fulfill my responsibility as prime minister." The House of Councillors election, the first national election for Abe who took office in September, comes at a time when his popularity has plummeted amid growing public frustration over pension system blunders, political funds scandals and gaffes by some Cabinet members. Abe, 52, suggested he would consider reshuffling his Cabinet after the election but ruled out dissolving the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower house of Japan's parliament, for another election. As of 1:20 a.m. Monday, the LDP is projected to win 36 seats in Sunday's election, compared with 59 seats for the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, according to Kyodo News projections. Half the seats in the upper house come up for grabs every three years and a total of 377 candidates were vying for the 121 at stake this time round. Kyodo projects the number of seats the LDP will secure will fall far short of the 44 seats it won in the upper house election of 1998 that forced Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to immediately step down. That figure of 44 was the LDP's second-worst upper house election result since it was established in 1955. As of 1:20 a.m. Monday, the LDP has 82 seats, including 46 that were uncontested this time, in the 242-seat upper house, while the DPJ is assured of becoming the largest party in the chamber with 108 seats, compared with the 81 it held before the election. The opposition camp led by the DPJ, headed by Ichiro Ozawa, is on its way to securing a combined majority in the upper house. But Ozawa did not appear in any television interviews, having been advised by a doctor to rest due to fatigue after campaigning, according to the party. The LDP-led coalition has a comfortable majority in the lower house, which has greater legislative power and the final say on the state budget and the election of a prime minister. Losing control in the upper house, nonetheless, will make it all the more difficult for Abe's administration to push its legislative agenda through parliament, such as a bill to extend Japan's help for U.S.-led antiterror activities in the Indian Ocean beyond its current legal limit of November. The DPJ alone is set to become the largest party in the upper house and take the post of its president. It would be the first time that a political party other than the LDP has held the most seats in the upper house since the LDP came into being in 1955. Symbolizing the major setback for the LDP is the loss of Toranosuke Katayama, the No. 2 man in the LDP's upper house caucus and a leader of the party's campaign strategy, in his Okayama constituency against a rookie from the DPJ. LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa submitted his resignation to Abe, who is LDP president, early Monday to take responsibility for the LDP setback, party sources said. LDP upper house caucus leader Mikio Aoki suggested on TV he may also step down to take responsibility for the defeat. The New Komeito party, the LDP's junior partner in the coalition, also suffered a setback, winning less than 10 seats, compared to the 12 it held that were at stake in the election. The party said it would back Abe staying in power. Small opposition parties such as the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party suffered in the shadow of the LDP-DPJ rivalry. Both parties are likely to fail to retain the seats they had up for grabs -- four for the JCP and three for the SDP. Roughly 100 million Japanese citizens aged 20 or older were eligible to vote. Voter turnout stood at only 57.98 percent as of 11:30 p.m., up some 1.0 percentage point from the corresponding time in the previous upper house election in 2004, Kyodo projects. Abe took over as prime minister from the popular Junichiro Koizumi. Abe, the first Japanese prime minister born after World War II, pledged at the time to create a "beautiful" Japan. He won high approval ratings of around 70 percent in a number of polls soon after taking office about 10 months ago. Many LDP lawmakers and candidates had hoped the telegenic hawk on North Korean issues would lead them to victory in the upper house election. But the prime minister's popularity has since nose-dived, even to below the critical 30 percent line in some polls, after pension record blunders by the Social Insurance Agency, political funds scandals involving LDP lawmakers and unpopular remarks and gaffes by Cabinet members. Earlier this year it was revealed that pension data connected to about 50 million accounts had been misplaced by the agency and the identities of the account holders have yet to be determined. The situation and the disclosure of other pension-related problems have caused anxiety among existing and future pensioners about whether they will receive due benefits. Toshikatsu Matsuoka, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, committed suicide in May after coming under criticism over a political funds scandal and his alleged links to bid-rigging cases connected to forestry public works projects. Norihiko Akagi, who Abe picked to succeed Matsuoka, has been hit by similar allegations about finances. Last December, administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata left the Cabinet over a political funds scandal. Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma resigned earlier this month amid a controversy over remarks he made that suggested the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan in World War II were justified. In January, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa had come under fire for describing women as "birth-giving machines."