On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi started the work of converting her election win into what she described as a conservative agenda, saying she would move quickly rather than settle into the celebration that followed Sunday’s parliamentary election. The election gave her governing bloc a two-thirds supermajority, a result that Takaichi and her supporters said gives them room to push legislation even as Japan’s upper house remains a separate constraint on government action.
Takaichi’s next steps began with plans to reappoint her Cabinet and to address a budget that had been delayed by the election timetable, with AP reporting that votes next week will also be needed to reelect her as prime minister. In comments to reporters, Takaichi said her push is aimed at making Japan “safe, strong and prosperous,” adding, “We have no time to bask in the afterglow of the (election) victory.” She said, “Through this election, the people showed their determination to join me in the challenge,” and vowed, “I’m not afraid of making challenges and I will not sway. I will make a decision and accomplish it.”
The electoral outcome gave Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, a dominant position in the lower house, Japan’s more powerful chamber. AP reported that the LDP alone secured 316 seats—surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house—while officials told AP the result was a record for the party since its foundation in 1955. AP also reported that the Japan Innovation Party won 36 seats, lifting the ruling coalition’s total to 352 seats.
Takaichi’s strategy was tied to her personal popularity as well as her party’s performance, following what AP described as a gamble that her standing could generate large gains for the struggling LDP. She called the early election after only three months in office, aiming to turn around the political fallout from scandals that have touched the LDP, including funding and religious allegations. AP described Takaichi as having resonated with younger supporters through a style that others have characterized as both playful and tough, and she took office in October as Japan’s first female prime minister.
Despite the lower-house outcome, Takaichi will have to proceed with caution because the new mandate does not eliminate the role of the upper house, AP reported. Still, AP said the lower-house “huge jump” from the preelection share gives her leverage to advance policies intended to boost Japan’s economy and military as tensions grow with China and as she tries to nurture ties with the United States. AP reported that Takaichi also said she would seek support from the opposition while pushing forward with her policy goals.
AP also reported that Takaichi’s campaign and policy agenda have been linked to concerns about security and shifting social and immigration rules. The first major task when the lower house reconvenes in mid-February, AP said, is work on a budget bill to fund economic measures addressing rising costs and sluggish wages. AP reported that she has pledged to revise security and defense policies by December, including lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from Japan’s postwar pacifist principles.
Her platform has also included tougher measures affecting foreigners, with AP reporting she has pressed for policies that resonate with a far-right audience and that include anti-espionage steps and stricter requirements related to foreign residents. AP reported that critics and experts have warned such changes could undermine civil rights, and it also reported that Takaichi wants to increase defense spending in response to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for Japan to spend more on its military.
Even with the election victory, AP reported that Takaichi largely avoided detailing how she would pay for the higher defense spending or how she would resolve diplomatic tensions with China during campaign remarks. In her campaign speeches, AP said she discussed “crisis management investment and growth,” linking the idea to government spending intended to strengthen economic security and technology and other industries. AP also reported that at least some voters appear drawn less by policy specifics than by her public image; a politics professor at Ritsumeikan University, Masato Kamikubo, told AP that many people are not familiar with her policies, but were attracted by how she is perceived as taking a tough stance on security.
As AP reported, the opposition that might have challenged Takaichi’s new mandate did not unite into a strong alternative. A new alliance that brought together former coalition partner Buddhist-backed Komeito and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, or CDP, fell to less than one-third of their combined preelection share of 167 seats, leaving Takaichi and her coalition to focus on consolidating legislative momentum.
The United States’ relationship with Japan also remained part of the political context, with AP reporting that U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Takaichi on Sunday on his Truth Social platform, calling it a “LANDSLIDE Victory” and praising her as a “highly respected and very popular Leader.” In Japan, at least one voter cited the LDP’s direction under Takaichi as a reason to welcome the result: AP reported that Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old office worker, said the party had become too liberal in recent years and that Takaichi’s shift toward the conservative side produced the “positive result” he expected.
Associated Press journalists Mayuko Ono and Hiromi Tanoue in Tokyo and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.