Japanese voters headed to the polls on Sunday for the House of Councillors election, with over 44,000 polling stations open across the country.

Voting began at 7:00 a.m. local time and will continue until 8:00 p.m., with exceptions for remote areas such as isolated islands, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

The Upper House consists of 248 seats, with half of them up for grabs every three years. This year, 125 seats are being contested, including one vacant seat following the resignation of a legislator elected in 2022.

More than 500 candidates are competing either through electoral districts or proportional representation.

Over 21 million people have already voted early — accounting  forover  20%of registered voters — marking an increase of around5 million  compared to three years ago.