Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's long-ruling party is reported to have won a landslide victory in the lower house of parliament.
The Kyodo news agency reported the Liberal Democratic Party's final tally was 296 seats. The main opposition Democratic Party won 113 seats, down from its previous 175 seats.
Shortly after the exit polls were published, the Democratic Party's leader, Katsuya Okada, announced he would resign.
Voter turnout climbed over seven points from the last lower house elections in 2003 to reach an estimated 68 percent.
Mr. Koizumi says the sweeping victory shows the Japanese people are behind his plan to break up and privatize the country's postal service, which is also the world's biggest bank.
Mr. Koizumi dissolved parliament and called snap elections last month when the upper house failed to pass the reforms.
Information for this report is provided by AP and Reuters.
