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 cabinet following the election, she told NHK. “I think the current Cabinet is a good team. It's still only just over three months since it was launched, but the members have been working really hard and are producing results.”
Campaigning began on 27 January, the shortest election period in the country’s history.
Heavy snow across much of the country may have weighed on turnout yesterday, with election day turnout falling by 3.31 percentage points from the previous election. The number of early voters increased by around 29%.
This was the CRA’s first election, having been formed from the merger of the centre-left Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) and centrist party Komeito in January.
Several senior CRA members lost their seats on Sunday, with the party winning only one single-member district in the greater Tokyo area. Its co-leaders Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, who previously led the CDP and Komeito, have indicated that they may resign.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 5.1% to 57,033.42 as of 12:20 pm AEDT, crossing the 57,000 mark for the first time.
