Japan's ruling LDP secures more than two-thirds majority in snap elections

ISTANBUL

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a historic landslide victory secured more than a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives in weekend snap elections, enabling Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to push ahead with her conservative policy agenda, local media reported Monday.

The LDP and its coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) won 354 seats in the 465-member lower house, setting the stage for Takaichi to stay on as prime minister after taking office last October, Kyodo news agency reported.

The LDP has also become the first party in postwar Japan to cross the two-thirds majority line of 310 seats in the lower house.

This means it can move toward amending the constitution and enact bills even if they are rejected by the House of Councilors, where the ruling coalition remains in a minority.

"We bear an extremely heavy responsibility to focus on steadily delivering on the campaign pledges we have made," Takaichi told state broadcaster NHK.

Opposition parties in total were only able to secure 111 seats compared to 230 in the previous house.

The election dealt a devastating blow to the newly launched major opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, whose seats fell sharply from 167 before the election to 49.

The development prompted the alliance's co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, to hint at resigning over the outcome.

The JIP were only able to add two seats to its previous 34. The LDP and JIP did not coordinate their candidates in the election.

The Sanseito party, a populist group known for its "Japanese First" slogan, won 15 seats compared with two before the election, while Team Mirai secured its first seats in the lower house with 11.

Voter turnout stood at slightly over 56%, around 2 percentage points higher than the previous election.

Around 1,300 candidates contested for the 465 seats, with 289 elected from single-seat constituencies and 176 through proportional representation, where seats are allocated for parties based on votes received in 11 regional blocks across the country.