Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday he will stay in office to tackle challenges such as rising prices and high U.S. tariffs after a weekend election defeat left his coalition with a minority in both parliamentary chambers.

Ishiba’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito were short three seats to maintain a majority in the 248-seat upper house in Sunday’s vote.

The coalition is now a minority in both houses of the Diet, or parliament, though the LDP is still the leading party.

Ishiba said he takes the result seriously but that his priority is to avoid creating a political vacuum and to tackle impending challenges, including the Aug. 1 deadline for a tariff deal with the U.S.

"Our country is facing a critical situation which can be described as national disaster... In these circumstances, the most important thing is to avoid a political vacuum," Ishiba said.

Sunday’s vote comes after Ishiba’s coalition lost a majority in the October lower house election, stung by past corruption scandals, and his unpopular government has since been forced into making concessions to the opposition to get legislation through parliament.

Frustrated voters were rapidly turning to emerging populist parties.

The emerging populist party Sanseito stands out with the toughest anti-foreigner stance, with its “Japanese First” platform that proposes a new agency to handle policies related to foreigners.

The party’s populist platform also includes anti-vaccine, anti-globalism and favors traditional gender roles.

Conservative opposition groups gained significant ground at the Liberal Democrats’ expense, while the centrist top opposition CDPJ was sluggish.

Sanseito leader, Sohei Kamiya, former local assembly member and a Self-Defense Force reserve personnel, told the reporters Sunday night, he did not expect this much support.