Japan’s Ruling LDP Wins Over Two-Thirds Lower House Majority Under PM Takaichi

TOKYO, Feb 9 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won more than a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives in Sunday's election, scoring a historic landslide victory that will give Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a major boost in pushing ahead with her conservative policy agenda.

According to Kyodo News Agency, the sharp gain in seats, from 198 before the election to 315, was apparently made possible by Takaichi's personal popularity, setting the stage for her to remain in office after taking power last October.

The LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), gained a dominant presence in the 465-member chamber with a combined 351 seats.

The election, meanwhile, dealt a debilitating blow to the newly launched major opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, whose seats plunged from 167 to 49, prompting its co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, to express their intention to resign at a joint press conference on Monday.

Noda, a former prime minister, said he would “take responsibility for this historic defeat” and that the party’s new leadership would be decided by Feb. 18, when the government and ruling parties are considering convening a special parliamentary session.

Crossing the two-thirds majority threshold of 310 seats in the lower house means the LDP, the first party to achieve the feat in post-war Japan, can move towards amending the Constitution and enact bills even if they are rejected by the House of Councillors, where the ruling coalition remains in a minority.

Amid prolonged inflation and an increasingly severe international environment, Takaichi has pledged to pursue a “responsible yet aggressive” fiscal policy and boost the nation’s defence capabilities.

“We bear an extremely heavy responsibility to focus on steadily delivering on the campaign pledges we have made,” Takaichi said during a television programme on Sunday after the LDP’s victory was reported.

She also signalled, in a separate programme, that she would maintain the status quo without making major changes to the Cabinet line-up, which has received relatively strong public support since its inauguration less than four months ago.

Still, she said she hoped the JIP, which decided not to take ministerial posts when forming the coalition in October, apparently reflecting a cautious stance towards the LD, would fulfil “its responsibility together in the Cabinet”.

The JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin, lacked momentum compared with its senior ally, although it managed to add two seats to its pre-election strength of 34 seats in the lower house. The LDP and the JIP did not coordinate their candidates in the election.

“It was an election in which we felt pressure from the LDP,” JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura told a press conference in his home prefecture of Osaka in western Japan, adding that the party had sought to convince voters of its important role in the coalition during the campaign.

The Sanseito party, a populist group known for its “Japanese First” slogan, won 15 seats, compared with two before the election, while Team Mirai, which advocates the adoption of digital technologies to enhance political participation, secured its first seats in the lower house with 11.

Voter turnout stood at 56.26 per cent in the constituencies and 56.25 per cent in the proportional representation section, compared with 53.85 per cent and 53.84 per cent, respectively, in the previous election, the Internal Affairs Ministry said.

Early voting received a boost, with a record 27.02 million people casting their ballots in the days prior to Sunday, up around six million from the lower house election in 2024.

As ordinary households have struggled to cope with the rising cost of living, major political parties pledged to reduce tax burdens during the campaign.

Takaichi said during her television appearances that her government would accelerate discussions on a plan for a two-year suspension of the 8 per cent consumption tax on food, one of the party’s campaign pledges.

Under Takaichi, a security hawk, the ruling parties also sought support for their aim to strengthen the country’s defences in the face of an increasingly severe security environment.

The last-minute launch of the Centrist Reform Alliance, which united lower house members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Komeito party, apparently backfired amid criticism that the merger was driven by electoral gain.

Komeito, backed by Japan’s largest lay Buddhist organisation, Soka Gakkai, had been an ally of the LDP for 26 years and a key source of campaign support for the coalition before the two sides split in October.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO