The Japanese leader's election gambit, fueled by the power of her personality and some unlikely help from young voters consumed by “Sanamania,” appears to have paid off.

The Japanese leader’s election gambit, fueled by the power of her personality and some unlikely help from young voters consumed by “Sanamania,” appears to have paid off.

Japan’s conservative prime minister Sanae Takaichi has won a landslide victory after she gambled on a high-stakes snap election.

Takaichi, who took office in October after being elected leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), surpassed the 310 seats needed for a supermajority in the 465-seat lower house, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported from the official election count on Sunday evening. The supermajority allows her ruling coalition to override the upper house, where it lacks a majority.

An NHK exit poll as voting ended earlier on Sunday projected the LDP would win between 274 and 326 seats. The party and its coalition partner Ishin were projected to win a combined 302-366 seats, as voters turned out amid freezing temperatures in a rare winter election.

  • ilinamorato@lemmy.worldEnglish
    44·
    6 hours ago

    Hmm, I just realized that I (an American living in New Zealand) have no idea what Japanese politics are like. To Wikipedia!

    Takaichi has been described as holding hard-line conservative and Japanese nationalist views,

    uh oh

    citing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a role model and deeply influential on her personal political beliefs.

    Uh oh

    Like Thatcher, she is called the “Iron Lady”.

    Uh Oh

    Takaichi is a member of Nippon Kaigi, a far-right ultraconservative organisation

    UH OH

    that argues for a reinterpretation of Japanese history

    RED ALERT

    amongst ultranationalist lines.

    WELP

    Oof. Well, I guess it had to happen to Japan someday. It’s happened everywhere else. Here’s hoping it doesn’t last long and the damage is minimal.