Japan's Takaichi secures landslide victory in snap election

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s party won a historic victory in Japan’s parliament election on Sunday.

Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 316 of the 465 seats in the powerful lower house, well above the 233 needed for a majority, according to results collated by public broadcaster NHK.

It is the first time a single party has won a two-thirds lower house majority since Japan's parliament was established in its current form in 1947.

The decisive victory will help Takaichi advance her pro-business policies without having to negotiate extensively with opposition parties.

The Japan Innovation Party, the LDP's coalition partner, won in 36 more constituencies, taking their combined total to 352 seats.

Japanese stocks surged to a record high on Monday as the LDP basked in its historic victory.

The Nikkei 225 index rallied by more than 5% in early trade on Monday, briefly crossing the 57,000 mark for the first time. It then gave up some gains, but still closed up 3.9% at a record high of 56,363.94.

“We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy,” Takaichi told reporters after media projections showed her party triumphing in the snap election.

“We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy. We will ensure necessary investments.”

While Takaichi is hugely popular, the ruling LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled due to funding and religious scandals. The PM called Sunday’s snap elections only after three months, in hopes of turning the party’s political fortunes.

However, Takaichi’s election promise to suspend the 8 percent sales tax on food to help households cope with rising prices has spooked investors, who are concerned about how the nation with the heaviest debt burden among advanced economies will fund the plan.

Residents trudged through winter weather to cast their ballots, with record snowfall in parts of the country snarling traffic and requiring some polling stations to close early.

Craig Mark, a lecturer at Hosei University, says Takaichi’s apparent success likely gives the LDP the ability to “override the opposition parties”.

“Essentially, she can push through any legislation she wants, whether it’s the record budget that was recently approved or defence spending,” Mark told Al Jazeera from the capital Tokyo.

It is also the “greatest chance” for Takaichi to change the country’s image as a pacifist nation, he added. Japan’s post-World War II constitution does not officially recognise the military, and limits it to nominally self-defensive capabilities.

The head of Japan’s top business lobby, Keidanren, welcomed the result as restoring political stability.

“Japan’s economy is now at a critical juncture for achieving sustainable and strong growth,” Yoshinobu Tsutsui said.

Weeks after taking office, Takaichi touched off the biggest dispute with China in over a decade by publicly outlining how Tokyo might respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

A strong mandate could accelerate her plans to bolster military defense, which Beijing has cast as an attempt to revive Japan’s militaristic past.

“Beijing will not welcome Takaichi’s victory,” said David Boling, principal at the Asia Group, a firm that advises companies on geopolitical risk.

“China now faces the reality that she is firmly in place – and that its efforts to isolate her completely failed.”

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump delivered his endorsement of Takaichi via social media and also took the unusual step of announcing before the results of the voting that she would visit the White House on March 19.

Trump said the United States and Japan have been working to strike a “very substantial” deal on trade, as well as collaborating on national security. Trump offered his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Takaichi. — Agencies

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