Japan PM calls snap election amid high approval

Japan – (Special Correspondent / Web Desk)

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has announced a snap election, hoping to take advantage of strong public support just three months after becoming the nation’s first female leader. Her approval ratings have remained high since she took office following her predecessor’s resignation.

Takaichi said on Monday that she will dissolve the lower house of parliament on January 23, with voters heading to the polls on February 8. Speaking to reporters, the conservative prime minister said she wants the public to decide whether she deserves to continue leading the country.

Calling the decision a difficult one, Takaichi said she was putting her political future at stake. “I want the people to judge directly whether they can trust me with running the country,” she said at a press conference.

The next general election was originally scheduled for October 2028, but Takaichi appears confident that her personal popularity can help reverse recent electoral setbacks suffered by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The party lost its majority in the lower house in October 2024 and later in the upper house, weakening its grip on power.

BREAKING:

Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi calls snap elections for February 8th to capitalize on her high approval rating:

She will campaign on her new security strategy of speeding up Japan’s military build-up in order to counter Chinese aggression 🇯🇵🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/Qw25FTlwMV

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 19, 2026

Those losses forced Takaichi to form a fragile alliance with the Japan Innovation Party, a populist group that shares many of her conservative positions, when she became prime minister in October.

Her early months in office included high-profile meetings with former US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, relations with Beijing cooled after Takaichi suggested Japan could become militarily involved in a China-Taiwan conflict if Japan’s own security were threatened.

China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, has reacted angrily, urging its citizens to avoid travel to Japan and cancelling several official engagements. While Takaichi’s firm stance has strengthened her support at home, analysts warn that worsening ties with China could harm Japan’s export-driven economy.

Despite strong approval ratings, the snap election remains a risky gamble that could shape both Takaichi’s political future and Japan’s direction in an increasingly tense regional environment.

This month, China banned exports to Japan’s military of so-called dual-use items, a move Takaichi has said violates international protocols. Dual-use items are goods, software or technologies with civilian and military applications. Beijing has said its ban will apply only to Japanese military firms.

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Domestically, the LDP – which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted since the mid-1950s – faces scrutiny over a lingering political funding scandal and the rising cost of living. A poll released by the public broadcaster NHK last week found 45% of respondents cited prices as their main concern, followed by diplomacy and national security at 16%.

In response, the coalition is considering suspending the 8% consumption tax on food items for two years. Media reports have also suggested Takaichi may seek to ban on political fundraisers by ministers in an effort to ease public anger over the widespread use of slush funds by party MPs.

An advocate of big spending to boost Asia’s second-biggest economy, Takaichi said at the weekend that she had instructed ministers to ensure the implementation of a supplementary budget for the fiscal year, which runs through March, and secure parliamentary approval for next year’s budget.

The coalition’s razor-thin majority also faces a fresh challenge from a new party formed this month through a merger between the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and the LDP’s former coalition partner, Komeito.

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Speaking at the launch of the Centrist Reform Alliance on Monday, the CDPJ’s secretary general, Jun Azumi, said the new party would “reflect a centrist approach aimed at moving from divisive, confrontational politics to one of coexistence and inclusion”.

A strong indication that Takaichi was preparing to seek her first public mandate as prime minister came earlier this month, when she wrote on X: “I made a fresh determination as a leader who must fulfil the heavy responsibility of leading Japan.”

She noted that she had visited a memorial to her political mentor, the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July 2022 in Nara prefecture, where Takaichi has her constituency.