Japan’s Prime Minister and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Sanae Takaichi (C), standing next to LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki (L) and LDP Election Strategy Chief Keiji Furuya, places a red paper rose on the name of an elected candidate at the LDP headquarters during the House of Representatives election in Tokyo on Feb. 8, 2026. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling coalition swept to a single-party majority victory in a critical parliamentary election on Feb. 8, paving the way for the nation’s first female head of state to pursue her agenda of sweeping tax cuts and increasing military spending to counter Beijing’s influence.
Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was projected to clinch as many as 328 of the lower house’s 465 seats, a landslide supermajority, according to exit poll results cited by NHK public television and other major networks.
