Sanae Takaichi, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections, at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on February 8, 2026
JAPANESE Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party secured a two-thirds supermajority in parliamentary elections, Japanese media reported tday.
The NHK television network said that Ms Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured 316 seats.
This comfortably surpassed a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house.
With 36 seats won by its new ally, Japan Innovation Party, Ms Takaichi’s ruling coalition has won 352 seats.
The landslide victory appears to be due to the popularity of Japan’s first female prime minister, and allows her to pursue a significant far-right shift in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies.
Ms Takaichi, in a televised interview with NHK network following her victory, said she will emphasise policies meant to make Japan strong and prosperous.
She also said that it was her intention to “be flexible” and would try to gain support from the opposition while firmly pushing forward with her policy goals.
The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far right, was too splintered to be a real challenger.
The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined pre-election share of 167 seats.
