Japan’s PM vows to push on with right-wing agenda after election victory

The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has secured a more than two-thirds majority in a key parliamentary election on Sunday, Japanese media reported.

Ms Takaichi, in a televised interview with public television network NHK, said that after the sweeping victory she is now ready to pursue her policies.

NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Ms Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament.

That marks a record since the party’s foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

A smiling Ms Takaichi placed a big red ribbon above each winner’s name on a board at the LDP’s headquarters, as accompanying party executives applauded.

Despite the lack of a majority in the other chamber, the upper house, the huge jump from the pre-election share in the superior lower house would allow Ms Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China and she tries to nurture ties with the United States.

Ms Takaichi said that she would firmly push forward her policy goals while trying to gain support from the opposition.

“I will be flexible,” she said.

Ms Takaichi took office in October as Japan’s first female leader.

She is hugely popular but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled from funding and religious scandals.

She called Sunday’s snap elections only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around before her popularity fades.

The ultra-conservative Ms Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans.

Ms Takaichi bet that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, would secure a majority in the 465-seat lower house.

The big win by Ms Takaichi’s coalition could mean a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies, with its right-wing partner JIP’s leader Hirofumi Yoshimura saying his party will serve as an “accelerator”.

Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, such as the anti-globalist and surging nationalist party Sanseito.

Ms Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defence policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.

She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.

Ms Takaichi also wants to increase defence spending in response to Mr Trump’s pressure on Japan to loosen its purse strings.

Though Ms Takaichi said she is seeking the public’s mandate for her “nation splitting policies,” she avoided contentious issues such as ways to fund soaring military spending, how to fix diplomatic tension with China and other controversial issues.

In her campaign speeches, Ms Takaichi enthusiastically talked about the need for “proactive” government spending to fund “crisis management investment and growth,” such as measures to strengthen economic security, technology and other industries.

Ms Takaichi also seeks to push tougher measures on immigration and foreigners, including stricter requirements for foreign property owners and a cap on foreign residents.