Japan election: Takaichi's conservatives on course for landslide

An exit poll by NHK projected the Liberal Democratic party would win between 274 and 328 of the 465 lower house seats, well above the 233 needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024. With seats for its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, the two parties could take between 302 and 366 seats.

The vote, held on a freezing day with heavy snow in many areas, was widely seen as an early endorsement of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who called the snap election after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister and had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority.

Takaichi campaigned on a $135bn stimulus package and a pledge to suspend the 8% consumption tax on food for two years, a move that would cut annual revenue by about ¥5tn. Those spending plans unsettled markets and heightened currency volatility; analysts warned that following through on the tax cut could prompt a swift market reaction and renewed pressure on the yen, a concern given Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its GDP.

Japan

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