Mari Yamaguchi and Foster Klug
Tokyo: The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has secured a more than two-thirds majority in Japan’s parliamentary election, Japanese media reports, citing preliminary results.
Takaichi, in a televised interview with NHK, the public television network, said that after the sweeping victory, she was now ready to pursue policies that would represent a significant shift to the right for Japan.
NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.
That marks a record since the party’s foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
A smiling Takaichi placed a big red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters, as accompanying party executives applauded.
Despite the lack of a majority in the other chamber, the upper house, the huge jump from the pre-election share in the superior lower house would allow Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China, and she tries to nurture ties with the United States.
Takaichi said she would firmly push forward with her agenda while seeking support from the opposition.
“I will be flexible,” she said.
Takaichi is hugely popular, but the governing LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled with funding and religious scandals in recent years. She called Sunday’s early election only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around while her popularity is high.
Popular leader
The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work”, and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger people who say they weren’t previously interested in politics.
The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, was too splintered to be a real challenger.
The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined pre-election share of 167 seats.
Takaichi was betting with this election that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, would secure a majority.
Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old office worker, said he welcomed the big win by the LDP because he felt the party had gone too liberal in the past few years.
“With Takaichi shifting things more toward the conservative side, I think that brought this positive result,” he said.
Shift to the right
The prime minister wants to push forward a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies. The LDP’s right-wing partner, JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, has said his party will serve as an “accelerator” for this push.
Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, including the anti-globalist, surging nationalist party Sanseito. Exit polls projected a big gain for Sanseito.
Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defence policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.
She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience, but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.
Takaichi also wants to increase defence spending in response to US President Donald Trump’s pressure for Japan to loosen its purse strings.
She now has time to work on these policies, without an election until 2028.
AP