Exit polls point to Japan’s first woman prime minister, conservative Sanae Takaichi, consolidating her position in Sunday’s snap elections, strengthening the mandate for her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). National broadcaster NHK on Sunday afternoon projected the LDP had won about 310 of the 465 parliamentary seats.
“We received backing for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s responsible, proactive fiscal policies and a strengthening of national defense capabilities,” LDP secretary general Shunichi Suzuki told Japanese media.
The PM has argued that stronger growth and rising wages are a better way to deal with Japan’s government debt than repeated tax hikes. To that effect, she has called for a combination of targeted government investment in areas like AI, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, and reforms to the tax system, including scrapping the consumption tax for food, raising the tax-free income threshold and tax credits for low- and middle-income households. To support working families and stem Japan’s demographic decline, Takaichi is pushing for an on-demand childcare system, pay raises for medical and caregiving staff, and lower costs for childbirth.
In response to public concern about increased immigration from foreign cultures, Takaichi is also taking a tough line on immigration, backing stricter screening, immigration caps, more deportations, and tighter rules on foreign land purchases.
