Japan faces political uncertainty as voters hand a dramatic defeat to the longtime ruling party.

Japanese voters delivered a stinging rebuke to the country’s longtime ruling party in elections Sunday, plunging the world’s fourth largest economy into a rare period of political uncertainty.

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed almost continuously since 1955, has lost its parliamentary majority in the powerful lower house for the first time in 15 years.

Public anger and distrust in the government had been growing over rising living costs, inflation and a massive political funding scandal at the heart of the LDP, with voters voicing their discontent at the ballot box.

The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito secured just 215 of the House of Representatives’ 465 seats, short of the 233 needed to reach a majority, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The result is a major blow to freshly minted Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose gamble to call a snap election to bolster his position after taking office only this month dramatically backfired.

Ishiba said Monday that voters had delivered an “extremely harsh judgement” his party must take “seriously and solemnly,” but also indicated he would not step down as prime minister.