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Sanae Takaichi’s landslide: Mandate meets market
Japan’s biggest postwar landslide has handed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi an extraordinary mandate to reshape the country’s economic and strategic direction. Yet even as her sweeping victory energises supporters and unsettles rivals abroad, market analysts caution that financial markets – not political opponents – may prove her toughest constraint. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured 316 seats in the Lower House, up from 198, delivering a two-thirds supermajority. Together with coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the ruling bloc now commands 352 seats, compared with 230 before the snap election. The scale of the win allows Takaichi to pass legislation without negotiating with opposition parties or seeking Upper House approval.Fiscal ambitions under scrutinyRatings agency Fitch Ratings said Takaichi’s emphatic victory points to more expansionary fiscal settings in the coming years. In its January affirmation of Japan’s A/Stable sovereign rating, Fitch had already assumed post-election fiscal easing and widening deficits. For now, that baseline remains intact. However, Fitch warned that risks remain. Should fiscal stimulus measures exceed current assumptions, pressure could build on
Japan
Takaichi's LDP wins two-thirds majority in Japan election
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has won a landslide victory in Sunday’s snap election, expanding Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s majority. The LDP has secured a two-thirds majority of 316 seats in the country’s House of Representatives, Japanese public broadcaster NHK projects, rising from 198 seats. The Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), the largest opposition party, saw its seats plummet from 172 to just 49. “We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy,” said Takaichi yesterday. Takaichi, who became prime minister in October, had largely campaigned on cost-of-living measures like suspending the 8% tax on food and beverages for two years. Her government approved a JP¥21.3 trillion (US$137 billion) stimulus package in November, including tax cuts and utilities subsidies. The election also comes amid worsening tensions between Japan and China, after Takaichi said in November that Japan could deploy military forces if China attacked Taiwan. China’s government has limited Japanese seafood imports in retaliation, and Chinese tourism to Japan fell by around 45% in December. Takaichi does not plan to change her c
Japan
Japan's Prime Minister calls snap election in February
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has called for a snap election early next month as she attempts to capitalise on her strong ratings as the country’s first female prime minister. At a press conference, she said she would dissolve the lower house of the Diet on Friday, 23 January, with an election to follow on 8 February. Takaichi became Prime Minister in October and said the decision to call an election was very difficult. “I am putting my future as prime minister on the line. I want the people to decide directly whether they can entrust the management of the country to me,” she said. This comes as a series of polls gives Takaichi an approval rating as high as 75%, despite her Liberal Party being unpopular, according to the Financial Times. When announcing the snap election, Takaichi said she had become Prime Minister by winning an internal vote to become president of the Liberal Party last October and needed a general election to gain a proper mandate to enact bold reform. “Can you trust the management of Japan to me? I want the Japanese people to make a decision on this,” she said, adding that from the moment she became prime minister, “I was worried that the Takaichi cabinet was not born from a general el
Japan
Japan appoints first female PM, fourth leader in five years
Sanae Takaichi has made history after being appointed as Japan's first-ever female prime minister. Takaichi is a hard-line conservative, referred to as Japan's Iron Lady, whose Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has formed a coalition with a minor party with similar views. This was her third attempt at becoming prime minister, and she is the nation's fourth leader in just five years. Takaichi opposes a revision of a 19th-century law that requires married couples to use the same surname, saying that allowing women to retain their maiden names will deteriorate traditional family values. She also opposes same-sex marriage and calls for a change to succession laws to allow female members of the imperial household to become reigning empresses. Previously, Takaichi had promised levels of female representation in her government comparable to those in Iceland, Finland and Norway, but just hours after she was elected, it became clear that would not be the reality, as she appointed only two women to her cabinet. In Iceland, 6 out of 11 cabinet members are women, including the prime minister, Kristrún Frostadóttir, and Finland's cabinet of 19 has 11 women. Satsuki Katayama, who became the first woman to hold the post of fina
Japan
Japan to form new ruling coalition as PM vote looms
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will form a new coalition with the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin), Kyodo news agency reported, paving the way for LDP leader Sanae Takaichi to be instated as prime minister. The LDP’s previous 26-year coalition with the party Komeito split earlier this month during a dispute over proposed campaign funding rules. The vote to select Japan’s prime minister will be on Tuesday. Ishin had also been asked to form a coalition with the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the largest opposition party, as well as the Democratic Party for the People (DPP). “We told the CDP and DPP that Ishin would find it difficult to vote for their leaders for prime minister,” Ishin deputy leader Fumitake Fujita said on Friday. The LDP and Ishin will sign their coalition agreement today, per Kyodo. Ishin’s members will not be part of Takaichi’s cabinet, unlike previous agreements between the LDP and Komeito. The LDP has reportedly agreed to Ishin’s request to reduce the number of seats in Japan’s House of Representatives by 10%. An LDP-Ishin coalition will have 231 seats in the House, two short of a majority. If Takaichi is not chosen with a majority in the first round of voting, the vote will p

Japan
Japan's ruling coalition splits before vote on new PM
Japan’s ruling coalition has split, with the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) junior partner Komeito saying it would leave after a disagreement over proposed campaign donation rules. The LDP chose Sanae Takaichi as its new leader earlier this month, though the parliamentary vote to elect her as prime minister has now been delayed until 20 October. Komeito’s lawmakers will vote for its party leader, Tetsuo Saito, as prime minister, Saito said. “We have cooperated over the last 26 years, including when we were out of power. That this relationship is coming to such a conclusion is extremely regrettable,” said Takaichi. In March, Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) drafted a proposal to limit corporate donations to lawmakers and ban donations to political groups led by politicians. The LDP is the largest beneficiary of corporate donations, and Takaichi did not commit to backing the proposal. Saito also cited the LDP’s handling of a 2023-2024 scandal where members of the party were found storing more than JP¥600 million (A$6 million) collected from fundraising events in illegal slush funds. The LDP-Komeito coalition has lost its majority in both Japan’s upper and lower houses in elections over the past
Japan
Takaichi to be Japan's first female PM, wins party vote
Conservative Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) leadership election on Saturday. The leadership contest was triggered when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned in September, following the ruling coalition’s loss of its majority in July’s upper house elections. Takaichi held several cabinet positions, including interior affairs and economic security, in the governments of Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida. “We must tackle the issues that many citizens are currently facing as quickly as possible. I’d like to really focus my efforts on measures to counter rising prices,” said Takaichi after the vote. Takaichi took first place in the leadership contest’s first round of voting, and defeated the more moderate Minister of Agriculture Shinjiro Koizumi in a runoff with 185 to 156 votes. She was also a candidate in the 2021 and 2024 LDP leadership elections. A parliamentary session to elect Takaichi as prime minister is expected in mid-October, and cabinet appointees will likely be named this week. She will serve out the remainder of Ishiba’s term, which will expire in 2027. She has said she is open to expanding the LDP’s minority coalitio
Japan
Japan's PM resigns amid election losses, US trade talks
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will resign after his Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) coalition lost its majority in July’s upper house elections. Ishiba said he had waited for tariff talks with the United States to conclude before resigning, though Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said the deal was not yet settled. Ishiba became Prime Minister and party leader in October 2024. “I have strongly believed that negotiations concerning the U.S. tariff measures, which could be described as a national crisis, must be brought to a conclusion under our administration's responsibility,” said Ishiba. While Ishiba said last week that he planned to remain as Prime Minister, the LDP is set to vote on holding an early leadership contest today. Ishiba met with Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday, who reportedly urged Ishiba to resign before the vote to avoid factional splits in the LDP. According to a Yomiuri Shimbun poll on Friday, 149 of the 342 LDP officials eligible to vote on scheduling an early leadership race support doing so. The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito lost a total of 24 seats in July’s House of Councillors elections, falling below
Japan
Japan Coalition fall threatens fragile economic recovery
Japan's ruling coalition has lost control of the upper house for the first time since 1955, public broadcaster NHK confirmed following Sunday's election results. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner Komeito need 50 seats to retain authority over the 248-member upper chamber. Exit polling indicates they secured between 32 to 51 seats, falling short of the required threshold. The political shift arrived as Japan faces a 1 August deadline to negotiate trade terms with Washington or confront 25% tariffs on Japanese imports to the United States.Opposition gains momentumThe election outcome reflects voter preference for consumption tax reductions over the LDP's fiscal restraint approach. "The LDP was largely playing defense in this election, being on the wrong side of a key voter issue," Eurasia Group Director David Boling said. "Polls show that most households want a cut to the consumption tax to address inflation, something that the LDP opposes." The Constitutional Democratic Party expanded to 18-30 seats from 22 previously held, while the far-right Sanseito party increased its representation to 10-15 seats from previously holding just one. It represents a shift in J