Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Occasion (LDP), speaks to the media in entrance of a board displaying the names of LDP candidates on the LDP headquarters on normal election day in Tokyo, Japan, February 8, 2026.
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REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
The governing occasion of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a greater than two-thirds majority in a key parliamentary election on Sunday, Japanese media reported, citing preliminary outcomes.
Takaichi, in a televised interview with public tv community NHK, stated that after the sweeping victory she is now able to pursue her insurance policies.
NHK, citing outcomes of vote counts, stated Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Occasion, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority within the 465-member decrease home, the extra highly effective of Japan’s two-chamber parliament. That marks a file for the reason that occasion’s basis in 1955 and surpasses the earlier file of 300 seats received in 1986 by late Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
A smiling Takaichi positioned an enormous pink ribbon above every winner’s title on a signboard on the LDP’s headquarters, as accompanying occasion executives applauded.
Regardless of the shortage of a majority within the different chamber, the higher home, the massive bounce from the preelection share within the superior decrease home would permit Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that goals to spice up Japan’s financial system and army capabilities as tensions develop with China and she or he tries to nurture ties with the US.
Takaichi stated that she would firmly push ahead her coverage objectives whereas making an attempt to realize help from the opposition.
“I will likely be versatile,” she stated.
Takaichi is massively in style, however the governing LDP, which has dominated Japan for many of the final seven many years, has struggled with funding and spiritual scandals in recent times. She known as Sunday’s early election solely after three months in workplace, hoping to show that round whereas her recognition is excessive.
In style chief
The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took workplace as Japan’s first feminine chief in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her type, which is seen as each playful and difficult, has resonated with youthful followers who say they weren’t beforehand occupied with politics.
The opposition, regardless of the formation of a brand new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, was too splintered to be an actual challenger. The brand new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition companion, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Occasion of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their mixed preelection share of 167 seats.
Takaichi was betting with this election that her LDP occasion, along with its new companion, the Japan Innovation Occasion, would safe a majority.
Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old workplace employee, stated he welcomed the massive win by the LDP as a result of he felt the occasion went too liberal prior to now few years. “With Takaichi shifting issues extra towards the conservative aspect, I feel that introduced this constructive outcome,” he stated.
Takaichi’s insurance policies
The prime minister needs to push ahead a big shift to the correct in Japan’s safety, immigration and different insurance policies. The LDP’s right-wing companion, JIP chief Hirofumi Yoshimura, has stated his occasion will function an “accelerator” for this push.
Japan has not too long ago seen far-right populists acquire floor, such because the anti-globalist and surging nationalist occasion Sanseito. Exit polls projected an enormous acquire for Sanseito.
Takaichi has pledged to revise safety and protection insurance policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive army capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and transferring additional away from the nation’s postwar pacifist ideas.
She has been pushing for harder insurance policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and different measures that resonate with a far-right viewers, however ones that consultants say may undermine civil rights.
Takaichi additionally needs to extend protection spending in response to US President Donald Trump’s stress for Japan to loosen its purse strings.
She now has time to work on these insurance policies, with out an election till 2028.
Divisive insurance policies
Although Takaichi stated that she’s in search of to win help for insurance policies seen as divisive in Japan, she largely averted discussing methods to fund hovering army spending, the best way to repair diplomatic stress with China and different points.
In her marketing campaign speeches, Takaichi enthusiastically talked in regards to the want for proactive authorities spending to fund “disaster administration funding and development,” reminiscent of measures to strengthen financial safety, expertise and different industries. Takaichi additionally seeks to push harder measures on immigration, together with stricter necessities for international property homeowners and a cap on international residents.
Sunday’s election “underscores a problematic pattern in Japanese politics wherein political survival takes precedence over substantive coverage outcomes,” stated Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan College politics professor. “At any time when the federal government makes an attempt crucial however unpopular reforms … the following election looms.”
Affect of snow
Sunday’s vote coincided with contemporary snowfall throughout the nation, together with in Tokyo. File snowfall in northern Japan over the previous few weeks blocked roads and was blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide.
Revealed on February 8, 2026
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