Name: Japan's PM Takaichi dissolves parliament and calls snap elections | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-02-03T09:14:41.000Z
Duration: 4 min 49 s
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And Japan's new Prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has dissolved the lower house of parliament for snap elections.

The country's first female leader, a hardline conservative, has been in office for about three months now.

She is hoping that strong approval ratings will translate into a clearer mandate for her Liberal Democratic Party, which lacks a majority of its own right now.

But the vote is about more than domestic politics.

It will also shape how Japan positions itself in an increasingly uncertain region.

Just three months after taking office, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is sending the country to the polls on February 8.

Her ruling Liberal Democratic Party does not command a majority in either house of Japan's parliament.

She is seeking a direct mandate after taking over from her predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.

Things have changed completely since Ashiba was prime minister, and it doesn't represent the will of the people.

I was hoping they would quickly dissolve parliament, so I think this is very good.

With just two weeks of campaigning, it won't be possible to have a calm discussion of the issues, and

Japan's first female prime minister's short time in office has been marked by a promise to combat rising prices with tax cuts and heavy government spending.

Abroad, she's been making waves, deepening cooperation with the United States and South Korea with while taking a firm hand on neighboring China.

The international situation is increasingly difficult.

The Chinese have conducted military exercises around Taiwan.

You can also see how China uses economic coercion to force other countries to submit to its demands by controlling raw materials in supply chains, materials that the world relies on and are widely used for civilian purposes.

That tougher, more nationalist tone is resonating with some voters, and Takechi is doing well in the polls.

And after years of political churn, many value Takechi's direct style and emphasis on national security.

But her election bid is facing a significant challenge.

Japan's main opposition party and a former coalition partner are joining forces, aiming to pull Japanese politics back towards the center.

Our two parties have reached an agreement to form a new party so we can fight this election together.

That fight will come to a head when Japan's voters decide all 465 seats in parliament's lower house.

Takichi's short but eventful time in office has been marked by speed and decisiveness, and

she's now betting that this snap election will turn that bold approach into stronger leadership for her and her party.

I spoke to Gavin Blair, a journalist in Tokyo, and

I asked him why the prime minister dissolved parliament.

Now it's really all about the high approval ratings.

In some polls, she's polling as high as in the 70s.

So this is a very good chance for her to strengthen that mandate.

You said so far she's done well, that the visits from Trump and the South Korean Prime Minister have all gone very well, despite her lack of foreign affairs experience.

The public seems to like the fact that she's not from a political dynasty and the fact that she is a woman in a.

In a political landscape where it feels that things rarely change.

She does feel something of a breath of fresh air.

So this is, this is a chance for her to get a strong mandate.

And yet everything, despite everything you say, her governing coalition does just have a one seat majority in Parliament.

So is this a risk, calling this these snap elections?

She does have a majority of just one and that coalition is, is quite precarious.

They pull out at any time if they disagree with any of her policies.

As you just mentioned, they've just formed a new party that's literally this week.

It translates as the Centrist Reform Alliance.

So this brings together the main opposition party and Comito, the former coalition partner.

Comito has a formidable electioneering machine that used to deliver a lot of votes to the ldp.

It should now be able to deliver a lot of those to the new party.

However, forming a new party literally weeks before the election, where the electorate really is not quite sure what they stand for, that is quite a risk.

So, yeah, this is something of a gamble for Takechi, but

I think a gamble she certainly thinks is worth taking.