Japan’s economy is in even worse shape than feared, according to revised statistics released Monday that showed, just days before a parliamentary election, that the world’s third-largest economy remains mired in recession.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the snap parliamentary election set for Sunday largely to be a referendum on his “Abenomics” revival strategy, seeking a mandate to press ahead with the changes, which appear to have had little effect.

The government revised last month’s statistics, which showed a sudden and unexpected 1.6 percent contraction in the economy during the third quarter compared with the year before, to reveal an even worse 1.9 percent drop in growth. Most economists had been expecting an improvement.

Coming on the heels of the previous contraction — the economy plunged by 6.7 percent in the second quarter — the data shows that Japan is back in the familiar territory of technical recession.

Coming to power in a landslide two years ago, the prime minister laid out the “Abenomics” strategy for reviving the economy, revolving around a much more aggressive monetary policy and a huge amount of initial spending followed by belt-tightening. The third set of components — structural reforms to the labor market and corporate governance, and the liberalization of trade — has been slow to materialize.

Faced with the news that Japan was back in recession, Abe decided last month to delay a planned second increase in the consumption tax — the first one was blamed for causing the downturn — and called the lower-house election to seek a mandate to continue. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party is going into Sunday’s vote with the slogan, “This road is the only road.”

Polls show that, in the face of a weak opposition and few alternative ideas for economic rejuvenation, the party will return with a strong majority and perhaps even increase the number of seats it holds in the House of Representatives.