The Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, He has won the early general elections to the Lower House of Parliament and has managed to more than expand the narrow majority of his coalition, as estimated by the public television channel NHK shortly after the closing of the polling stations.
The conservative party won between 274 and 328 seats of the 465 in contention in the Lower House, the most important of the two confirmed by Parliament, as reported on television. based on the exit polls carried out during the day.
Takaichi would thus alone surpass the absolute majority of 233 seats that he set as his goal. Your ally, the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin)would obtain, according to NHK, between 28 and 38 seats, so
The big loser of the electoral event seems to be the new Centrist Reformist Alliance, a union of the Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC) and the buddhist Comet (former LDP coalition partner, but left its alliance after Takaichi’s election as leader). Between them they would only achieve between 27 and 91 seats, much less than what they held before the early elections. Other Japanese media, such as news agencies Kyodo o Jiji Pressthey also consider Takaichi the winner.
It now remains to be seen whether the ruling coalition will manage to exceed the 310 seats (two-thirds of the chamber) that would allow it to approve bills rejected by the Upper House, where the PLD and Ishin are in the minority, an essential condition for reforming the Constitution.
The populist Sanseitomarkedly anti-immigration, would obtain according to the projections of NHK between 5 and 14 seats, compared to the two it had in the Lower House before its dissolution. Sohei Kamiya, the leader of the group, stated in statements to the Japanese network “having received a great boost” although “we were not able to extend the vote count as we expected” due to the rise of the PLD.
Election day was marked by heavy snowfall, which forced some polling stations to postpone their opening or close before the scheduled time, although Early voting exceeded that of other electoral events.
Takaichi, whose government has enjoyed high popularity ratings since coming to power in October (after taking the reins of the LDP in a primary), presented the elections as a referendum on his mandate, and even said that he would resign if his coalition with Ishin did not achieve an absolute majority of 233 seats.
If the results are confirmed, It will be the first time that the PLD achieves an absolute majority alone since the 2021 general elections.
