Japan’s prime minister calls snap election as approval ratings ride high

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has called a snap election as she attempts to capitalise on high approval ratings since becoming the country’s first female prime minister three months ago.

Takaichi, a conservative who is embroiled in a deepening dispute with China over the security of Taiwan, said on Monday she would dissolve the lower house of the Diet – Japan’s parliament – on 23 January, with an election to follow on 8 February.

Speaking at a press conference, Takaichi, who took office after the resignation of her predecessor, said she wanted voters to judge whether she was “fit” to continue in the role.

Describing the decision to call as snap election as “very difficult”, Takaichi told reporters: “I am putting my future as prime minister on the line. I want the people to decide directly whether they can entrust the management of the country to me.”

The next lower house poll was not due until October 2028, but Takaichi appears confident she can use her personal popularity to reverse theLiberal Democratic party’s (LDP) recent run of poor election results.

The LDP and its former junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majorities in the powerful lower house in October 2024 and in the upper house last July, forcing Takaichi to forge a fragile partnership with the populist Japan Innovation party, which shares many of her conservative views, when she became prime minister in October.

After making an encouraging start to her premiership during meetings with Donald Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, Takaichi later angered Beijing by suggesting Japan could become militarily involved in any conflict between China and Taiwan if its own security were threatened.

Beijing claims Taiwan is a Chinese province and is preparing to annex it militarily, with the aim of being capable of invasion by 2027, according to US intelligence from several years ago.

Takaichi’s refusal to withdraw the remark has secured her broad support among voters, but despite her strong approval ratings, her decision to call an early election is not without risks.

A prolonged dispute with China, which has urged its citizens not to travel to Japan, leading to cancelled meetings and events, could have negative repercussions for Japan’s export-led economy.

China this month banned exports of so-called “dual-use” items for Japan’s military, a move Takaichi has said violates international protocols. Dual-use items are goods, software or technologies that have both civilian and ‍military applications. China has said its ban will only affect military firms in Japan.

In addition the LDP, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted since the mid-1950s, faces scrutiny over a lingering funding scandal and the cost of living. A poll released by public broadcaster NHK last week found 45% of respondents cited prices as their main worry, followed by diplomacy and national security at 16%.

In response, the coalition is considering suspending the 8% consumption tax on food items for two years, while media reported that Takaichi could move to impose a ban on political fundraisers by ministers in an attempt to ease public anger over the widespread use of slush funds by party MPs.

Takaichi, an advocate of big spending to boost Asia’s second-biggest economy, said at the weekend that she had instructed ministers to ensure the implementation of a supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March and parliamentary approval for next year’s budget.

The coalition’s razor-thin majority also faces a fresh assault by a new party formed this month following a merger between the main opposition Constitutional Democratic party of Japan [CDPJ] and the LDP’s former coalition partner Komeito.

Speaking at the policy launch of the Centrist Reform Alliance on Monday, the CDPJ’s secretary general, Jun Azumi, said the new party would “reflect a centrist approach aimed at moving from divisive, confrontational politics to one of coexistence and inclusion”.

A strong indication that Takaichi was about to seek her first public mandate as prime minister came earlier this month, when she wrote on X: “I made a fresh determination as a leader who must fulfil the heavy responsibility of leading Japan.”

She noted that she visited a memorial to her political mentor, the late prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July 2022 in Nara prefecture, where Takaichi has her constituency.

With Reuters