TOKYO, July 2, (AP): Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces a tough test in an upper house election later this month as his minority government struggles after its major defeat in last year's snap election. Ishiba has survived so far, though he had to make some concessions to the opposition - an unusual step for the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japan’s postwar politics.

Official campaigning begins Thursday for the July 20 vote for the upper house, the less powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers. Ishiba has modest goals for the election and the opposition is divided, so the outcome is unlikely to force an immediate change of government. But it will be a tough test on Ishiba’s handling of economic woes at home and global challenges such as US President Donald Trump’s tariff war.

Ishiba’s goal is a simple majority. Half of the 248 seats for six-year terms in the upper house are being decided, and the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito would need to win 50 combined. That's on top of their 75 seats that are not being contested in this election. That would be a retreat from their current number of 141 seats, but Ishiba has told reporters his goal is one that must be achieved.

"I am fully aware that I must solemnly accept voters’ judgment,” Ishiba said in a recent television talk show, but did not say how he would take responsibility if he doesn't meet his goal. A poor result in the upper house election would not immediately cause a change of government but could trigger a LDP leadership change or regrouping of a governing coalition.

The LDP was defeated in the previous election largely because many of its usual supporters voted for centrist to conservative opposition groups to punish the governing party over its corruption scandals. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, or CDPJ, and the surging Democratic Party for the People, or DPP, as well as an emerging right-wing populist Sanseito have significantly gained ground.

But the opposition groups are too fractured to find a common platform to gain voter support as a viable alternative. When Ishiba lost big in October, there was speculation of a trilateral coalition government with the DPP or another conservative Japan Innovation Party, but they have cooperated only on certain legislation. A loss of majority in the upper house by Ishiba’s party could reignite momentum for coalition regroupings.