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Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi intends to dissolve the lower house for a snap election shortly after the next parliamentary session begins. Her ruling party and coalition partner confirmed this on Wednesday.
Takaichi, appointed Japan’s first woman prime minister in October, enjoys a cabinet approval rating of around 70 per cent. However, her ruling bloc holds only a slim majority in the lower house, limiting its ability to push through her ambitious policy agenda.
Hirofumi Yoshimura, a leader of the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), told reporters that Takaichi had informed him of her plan to dissolve the lower house at the start of the upcoming parliamentary session. He added that the prime minister intends to hold a news conference on Monday to provide further details about her decision.
Yoshimura also said that Takaichi had conveyed her intention to dissolve the chamber to Shunichi Suzuki, secretary-general of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Suzuki told reporters earlier in Tokyo that the election would serve, in part, to seek a public mandate on the recently formed LDP-JIP partnership, which followed the exit of the ruling party’s previous coalition partner.
Media reports suggest that if Takaichi dissolves the lower house on January 23, the start of the parliamentary session, the election could take place as soon as February 8.
Analysts note that keeping a short interval between dissolution and the vote could limit disruptions to the parliamentary debate over the budget bill for the upcoming fiscal year.
Takaichi’s cabinet has approved a record 122.3-trillion-yen ($768 billion) budget for the fiscal year starting April 2026, and the prime minister has vowed to secure parliamentary approval promptly to tackle inflation and bolster Japan’s economy, the world’s fourth largest.
Observers say Takaichi hopes that a larger majority will allow her to implement her agenda of more proactive fiscal spending and to break the deadlock in relations with China.
