Polling station in Shibuya,Tokyo

(VOVworld)- Japanese voters started to vote in Sunday’s election for the Upper House at 48,000 polling stations. They will elect 121 out of 433 candidates. Under constitution, half of the 242 seats at the Upper House are re-elected every three years. Among 121 seats elected this time, 73 seats are elected by 47 provincial constituencies and the remaining 48 seats are selected from the electoral system based on the support rate for political parties in the country. So, voters will simultaneously cast their ballots for the two electoral systems. The Upper House election on July 21 is the first national election held since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012.