Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will continue in office after the landslide win by her Liberal Democratic Party, which captured more than 310 seats, which represents two-thirds of the total in the Lower House.

In the extremely short Lower House election campaign held in the middle of winter, the ruling coalition of the LDP and Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) garnered 352 seats.

The Centrist Reform Alliance (Chudo), which proclaimed a centrist stance to counter the strong right-wing leaning of the Takaichi administration, suffered a crushing defeat, winning less than half of the seats it held before the election.

Chudo’s co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, have indicated their intention to resign to take responsibility. 

With a drastic reversal in the strengths of the ruling and opposition parties in the Lower House, Takaichi is expected to push forward with realizing policies that could divide national opinion.

NOT A ‘BLANK CHECK’

But the landslide victory does not mean the voters have given carte blanche.

That is even more true because Takaichi continued to avoid offering specific explanations about the policies that she wants to implement.

It is the responsibility of the leader of a nation to make efforts to form an agreement so that national opinion is not split in two.

Social division will only increase if the force of numbers is used to strongly push forward.

The Lower House election began with the surprise dissolution of the Lower House at the very start of the Diet session while delaying passage by the end of March of the new fiscal year budget that directly affects the lives of the people.

The campaign was held while parts of the Sea of Japan side faced record snowfall and students were taking entrance exams.

The sudden nature of the election meant some overseas voters could not cast........

© The Asahi Shimbun