Nonetheless enough will struggle across the finish line to give Republicans control of the upper house.
His Social Democrats lost control of the upper house, the Bundesrat, after a defeat in a state election in February.
The center-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani narrowly won the lower house, but failed to gain control of the upper house.
Revising Japan's peace constitution is controversial with voters and Abe is eager to gain control of the Upper House of the Diet in summer elections.
Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party, the biggest of the opposition forces, says he will use control of the upper house to block legislation and so force an early general election.
Republicans retained narrow control of the House, but the Senate is split 50-50, with former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's election as vice president giving the GOP nominal control over the upper chamber.
Hopes of sensible policy have vanished since the opposition seized control of the upper house of the Diet (parliament) last July and Yasuo Fakuda's ruling coalition appears to lack the courage for reform.
Abe is on a mission to reinvigorate the Japanese economy, win control of the upper house of the Diet (National Assembly) in summer elections and push through constitutional revision to remove constraints on Japan's military.
Yet it is more likely that a grand coalition run by a weakened Ms Merkel with a disgruntled SPD would end in paralysis rather as has the current government, with the opposition in control of the upper house.
But even if Abe secures a comfortable majority in the Lower House, given its lack of control of the Upper House, it might struggle to secure the working majorities it will need in the Diet to pass legislation comfortably.
They will, he hopes, enable Chile to shake off the worst features of the constitution it inherited from the Pinochet era, among them the non-elected senators who have deprived both of the past two (elected) governments of control of the upper house.
We also believe Liberty maintains the upper hand in negotiations because it can assume control at time, given its existing 46% ownership stake.
FORBES: Sirius XM, Liberty Media: Barclays Ups Ratings On Both
His ability to implement unpopular reforms will anyway be limited by the opposition conservatives' control of the Bundesrat, the upper house of the legislature, where Germany's 16 states are represented.
However, Mr Howard's party does not control the Senate, Australia's upper house, so these new initiatives may have trouble becoming law.
The Razer Nostromo expert gaming keypad is designed to give gamers the upper hand with cutting edge ergonomics for intuitive game control and comfort.
ENGADGET: Razer Nostromo gaming keypad supplants Belkin's n52te Speedpad, does it proud
Both gun-control advocates and the National Rifle Association claim the upper hand.
In class, she's in control, taking no flak from the pair of Upper East Side alpha moms who complain that her class is too hectic.
In the war being waged for control of enterprise endpoint computers, cybercriminals currently have the upper hand.
FORBES: To Stop Cybercrime: Understand Crime Logic, And Adapt
The centre-right has a majority not only in the Bundestag, the lower house, but also in the Bundesrat, the upper house made up of state representatives, which it will retain so long as it keeps control of North Rhine-Westphalia next May.
Evidently, this misconduct was deemed necessary because, even with control of both the House and Senate infriendly hands, President Obama required Republican votes in the upper chamber to secure passage of his repeal initiative.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: How Congress Was Duped into Repealing Military Gay Ban
The presence of more old soldiers in the government's upper ranks has shifted the power balance, which in the past prevented any one faction from winning too much control.
It benefits the upper and upper-middle classes, the argument goes, by the strict standards it imposes to protect the land: growth control, open space, maintained eco-systems and the preservation of town or village character.
应用推荐