Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister is set to seize more power after an exit poll had her securing a big majority in the country’s lower house.
Sanae Takaichi’s coalition is expected to win between 302 and 366 out of 465 seats in the chamber, national broadcaster NHK has predicted.
That is well above the 233 needed for a majority.
It comes after she called a rare winter snap election, seeking to capitalise on her own high approval ratings.
Betting on herself, Ms Takaichi, 64, pledged to secure a majority of step down.
She became Japan’s first female prime minister in October after taking charge of the struggling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), whose fortunes she is credited with transforming.
The lower house, or House of Representatives, is the stronger of the two chambers that comprise the National Diet – the Japanese equivalent of parliament.
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A stronger hand there will empower her to make progress on her aims to boost Japan’s economy and military while fostering closer ties with the US.
Ms Takaichi, a former heavy metal drummer, says her country is suffering from “foreigner fatigue” from immigration and tourism, and her nationalist rhetoric has stoked tensions with China.
She’s anti gay marriage and a vocal defender of traditional gender roles, and sees late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a role model.
Her LDP party has grown accustomed to power, having governed almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, except for two brief windows – from 1993 to 1996, and from 2009 to 2012.
But the party has suffered setbacks in recent years, enduring its second worst electoral performance ever in 2024 amid a backdrop of a financial scandal and economic stagnation, and losing its majority in the lower house.
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