Hours after the Liberal Democratic Party fell shy of its 51-seat target in Sunday's House of Councilors election, leaders of the ruling bloc confirmed Monday they would stay the course under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi's LDP won 49 Upper House seats in Sunday's poll. The LDP's junior coalition partner, New Komeito, however, came away from the election with 11 seats, one more than it had up for grabs. The Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, secured 50 seats.

The top leaders of the coalition agreed to keep Koizumi as their leader apparently due to a lack of a suitable replacement.