Early elections in Japan… likely to strengthen the position of the Prime Minister

Early legislative elections

The 46-year-old prime minister is betting on her good performance in opinion polls, to increase the share of the Liberal Democratic Party (the nationalist right) that she leads, at a time when the ruling coalition has only a simple majority in Parliament.

A slight decline

Despite a slight decline in recent weeks, her government has support rates of approximately 70%, which is higher than previous governments.

Observers expect that Takaishi’s bet that she will assume power will succeed. Since October, she has been leading her party to obtain a majority.

Opinion Polls

Opinion polls conducted before the elections indicate that the party will easily pass the threshold of 233 seats necessary to secure a majority. The ruling coalition, consisting of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japanese Innovation Party, may be able to win more than 300 seats out of 465.

As for the new centrist reformist coalition, which includes the most prominent opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, and"Cometo" The former partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, it may lose half of its current 167 seats.

Election campaign

Takaishi adopted a sharp speech on immigration that is likely to contribute to blocking the path to the party. "Sancito" Populism based on a slogan "The Japanese first"

Mikitaka Masuyama, professor of Japanese politics at the National Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP that Takaishi "Use vocabulary that is easy to understand"while her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba had "Many ideas, but he was speaking like an academic"

Apart from the personality of the Prime Minister, the election campaign centered on the purchasing power of the Japanese.

The impact of inflation

Political science professor Hiroshi Shiratori said: "It seems that the public’s attention during the election campaign was focused exclusively on inflation issues" Which has remained above the rate of two percent for about three years.

He saw that "A landslide victory for the Liberal Democratic Party would mean giving it a mandate to continue these policies"

The Prime Minister, who is the fifth person to hold this position in five years, promised to exempt foodstuffs from the 8% consumption tax to mitigate the impact of inflation on families.

Relationship with China

In politics, developments in the relationship with China remain a matter of concern.

Takaishi sparked a diplomatic crisis shortly after assuming her duties, as she hinted that Japan might intervene militarily if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

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Takaishi received the support of US President Donald Trump on Friday, who wrote on the Truth Social platform that she… "She proved…to be a strong, influential and wise leader"adding that "He looks forward" To receive her at the White House on March 19.