TOKYO, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve Parliament next week and call an early legislative election, her party’s secretary-general said on Wednesday, as she seeks public support for spending plans that have rattled financial markets.
Takaichi is considering holding the election on February 8, said two ruling party lawmakers, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
‘We need to seek a new mandate,’ Shunichi Suzuki, general secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), told reporters after meeting with Takaichi, adding that she will present her plans next Monday.
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Japan’s first female prime minister will try to capitalize on a surge in public support since taking office in October, despite sparking a major diplomatic row with powerful neighbor China.
Suzuki said the vote would allow voters to evaluate the PLD’s new coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin. Takaichi formed the alliance last year after breaking away from Komeito, the LDP’s long-time and more progressive partner.
‘One reason for dissolving Parliament is that the previous election was under the PLD-Komeito government; the public has not yet given a verdict on the change in our coalition partner,’ Suzuki added.
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The election will also test public appetite for Takaichi’s plans to increase government spending to revive growth and increase defense spending in line with a revised national security strategy, Suzuki said.
Last week, reports that it was considering the possibility of an early election sparked a selloff in the yen and Japan’s government bonds, as investors worried about how one of the world’s most indebted advanced economies would pay for its fiscal expansion.
The election also comes amid the worst dispute in more than a decade between Asia’s two largest economies — Japan and China.
Takaichi said last year that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute an existential threat to Japan — comments that Beijing demanded she retract. It did not, which led to countermeasures that included advising Chinese citizens not to travel to Japan and issuing a restriction on Chinese exports to Japan of goods that have both civilian and military uses.
