The risky bet of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichijust four months after she took office to call an early electionseems to be working out. According to the latest polls, her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is likely to achieve an absolute majority on Sunday. Together with its coalition partner, the Japan Renewal Party, it could even win more than two-thirds of the seats. So far, the coalition has only governed with a wafer-thin majority.
The 64-year-old conservative made the election a vote on her person and her nationalist “change of course” in politics. Under the slogan “For a strong and prosperous Japan,” the head of government emphasized her “proactive” fiscal policy with higher government spending to strengthen the economy during her appearances. “I will end the trend of saving and under-investing,” she promised.
Observers attribute Takaichi’s great popularity to the fact that she has ended the primacy of old men in Japan’s politics. Her rise from a white-collar family to Japan’s highest office is also impressive. On the other hand, she cleverly plays with the image of a career power woman who can also be cute and talk about fashion and cosmetics.
On platform X follow her 2.6 million, 40 times more than her opposition rival Yoshihiko Noda. A YouTube video from Takaichi on the LDP channel reached 118 million viewers in nine days. Clips of a drumming session with South Korean President Lee and a birth serenade in Italian for Prime Minister Georgia Meloni went viral.
Takaichi managed to change the image of the old LDP
The images appeal to many young Japanese who are traditionally apolitical. “The first woman in this position is a symbol of the change in society,” said a high school student during a television discussion. Dem Sends Fuji TV said one studenthe has the impression that Takaichi is “thinking about the future of Japan with enormous energy.”
The opposition apparently had little to counter this dynamic. The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) and the Buddhist Komei Party surprisingly joined forces to form the Centrist Reform Alliance. It presents itself as a centrist party that expands the welfare state and relies on diplomacy in foreign policy.
What seemed like a good move doesn’t seem to work. The Komei Party probably finds it difficult to explain to its supporters why, after 26 years of coalition with the LDP, which only ended in October, it is suddenly in the same boat as its old political opponent CDP.
Still, the prospect of a landslide victory for the LDP comes as a surprise. The party that has ruled Japan almost continuously for 70 years, was devastated in the fall after the resignation of Prime Minister and party leader Shigeru Ishiba. In two elections, the LDP lost its absolute majority in both chambers of parliament for the first time.
Almost forgotten: LDP MPs’ slush funds
LDP MPs had created slush funds and received support from the South Korean Unification Church (Moon Sect). According to a newspaper report, Takaichi is also said to have taken money indirectly from the cult-like organization. However, she denied any contacts.
At the same time, the LDP had moved to the center in recent years and had opened its right flank to right-wing populists, including the Sansei Party, which attracted many voters with its xenophobic slogan “Japanese first.” The LDP promoted Takaichi to the shield in October to strengthen its conservative image and use its fresh face to make people forget about the scandals. This calculation seems to have worked.