Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP) has secured the biggest election victory seen in Japan since the end of the second world war. In elections on February 8, it won 316 seats out of a total of 465 in the lower house of Japan’s parliament. The Japan Innovation party, its junior coalition partner, secured a further 36 seats.
Many had predicted an LDP win. Takaichi called the snap election in January to capitalise on her high approval ratings since becoming Japan’s first female prime minister months earlier. But few had anticipated the strength of her support, with the LDP emerging as the most popular party across all age groups.
The results are humiliating for the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed ahead of the election through a merger of the centre-left Constitutional Democratic party and the centrist Kōmeitō party. The alliance failed to make an impact. It won just 49 seats, down from a pre-election total of 172, prompting leadership duo Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito to announce their resignation.
