Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) emerged victorious in the weekend snap elections, securing a substantial two-thirds majority with 315 seats, as per official results revealed on Tuesday.
This historic success for the LDP paves the way for Japan’s first female prime minister to significantly influence policies and decisions in the nation of 123 million people for the next four years.
The LDP’s coalition ally, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), also performed well by securing 36 seats, boosting the ruling bloc’s total to 351 lawmakers in the 465-member lower house, according to data from the internal affairs ministry.
In the previous parliament, the LDP held only 198 seats, while the JIP had 34 seats, indicating a substantial increase in their representation in the latest elections.
Additionally, the anti-immigration Sanseito party witnessed a surge in its seat count, rising from two to 15 seats in the aftermath of the election, as reported in the results.
However, the newly formed Centrist Reform Alliance, comprising the primary opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the LDP’s former partner Komeito, faced a significant setback with their seat count plummeting to 49 from 167, marking a challenging outcome for the opposition camp.
