Japanese leader sets up snap election on February 8

Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi has dissolved the lower house of parliament, paving the way for a snap election on February 8.

The move is an attempt to capitalise on her popularity to help governing party regain ground after major losses in recent years, but will delay parliamentary approval for a budget that aims at boosting a struggling economy and addressing soaring prices.

Elected in October as Japan’s first female leader, Ms Takaichi has been in office only three months, but she has seen strong approval ratings of about 70%.

Ms Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could still face some challenges as it reels from a series of scandals about corruption and the party’s past ties to the controversial Unification Church.

But it is not clear if the new opposition Centrist Reform Alliance can attract moderate voters while opposition parties are still too splintered to a pose a serious threat to the LDP.

Ms Takaichi is also seeing rising animosity with China since she made pro-Taiwan remarks. And US president Donald Trump wants her to spend more on weapons as Washington and Beijing pursue military superiority in the region.

The dissolution of the 465-member lower house paves the way for a 12-day campaign that officially starts on Tuesday.

When house speaker Fukushiro Nukaga declared the dissolution, the assembled parliamentarians stood up, shouted “banzai” – “long live” – three times and rushed out to prepare for the campaign.

Ms Takaichi’s plan for an early election aims to capitalise on her popularity to win a governing majority in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber Parliament.

The scandal-tainted LDP and its coalition had a slim majority in the more lower house after an election loss in 2024. The coalition lacks a majority in the upper house and relies on winning votes from opposition members to pass its agenda.

Opposition leaders criticised Ms Takaichi for delaying the passage of a budget needed to fund key economic measures.

“I believe that the only option is for the people, as sovereign citizens, to decide whether Sanae Takaichi should be prime minister,” she told a news conference Monday when announcing plans for the election.”

She added she was “staking my career as prime minister” on it.

A hardline conservative, Ms Takaichi wants to highlight differences with her centrist predecessor Shigeru Ishiba.

She stresses that voters need to judge her fiscal spending moves, further military build-up and tougher immigration policies to make Japan “strong and prosperous.”

While an upbeat and decisive image has earned her strong approval ratings and fans of her personal style, the LDP is not popular as it recovers from a political funds scandal.

Many traditional LDP voters have shifted to emerging far-right populist opposition parties, such as the anti-globalist Sanseito.

Meanwhile, Japan faces escalating tensions with China after Ms Takaichi made remarks suggesting that Japan could become involved if China takes military action against Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. A furious China has increased economic and diplomatic retribution.

Ms Takaichi wants to push further a military build-up and spending increases, while Mr Trump has pressured Japan to spend more on defence.