Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday dissolved the country’s parliament and called for a snap election to be held on October 22, Reuters reported. A number of Opposition lawmakers, however, boycotted the session.

Japan’s main Opposition party, the Democratic Party, will support Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Party of Hope, launched on Wednesday. Democratic Party leaders said the party would not run any candidates of their own, instead allowing their members to contest under the Party of Hope banner.

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition will seek to retain a simple majority, after a boost in voter support in recent months. “This will be a tough battle, but it is all about how we will protect Japan, and the lives and peaceful existence of the Japanese people,” Abe said to a group of lawmakers on Thursday.