[Breaking] Takaichi: "General election on the 8th of next month… I will stake my position as prime minister"

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on the 19th that she will dissolve the House of Representatives (lower house) on the 23rd.

At a press conference held that day at the Prime Minister’s Office, Takaichi officially expressed her intention to dissolve the House of Representatives on the first day of the regular session of the Diet, which will be convened on the 23rd.

She added that following the official announcement procedures (“kōji”) marking the start of the general election on the 27th, voting and ballot counting will take place on the 8th of next month. The period from the dissolution of the House to election day is 16 days, the shortest since the end of the Pacific War.

The dissolution of Japan’s House of Representatives comes about 1 year and 3 months after Oct. 9, 2024, during the previous Shigeru Ishiba cabinet; the term of members of the House of Representatives is originally four years.

Explaining the rationale for the dissolution, Takaichi said, “The policies set when we formed a coalition government with the Japan Innovation Party in October last year were not presented as LDP pledges in the most recent general election,” adding that “a major shift has been made in important policies related to the foundations of the nation.”

She continued, stressing, “The framework of the coalition government has also changed. That is why we chose the path of directly asking the will of all the people.”

After Takaichi was elected LDP president in early October last year, the LDP parted ways with Komeito, a centrist-leaning conservative party it had cooperated with since 1999, and joined hands with the hardline conservative Innovation Party.

Since the launch of the Takaichi cabinet, the LDP and the Innovation Party have been pushing distinctly conservative policies such as strengthening defense capabilities and revising the Constitution, while ahead of this election Komeito, together with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, formed a new party emphasizing “centrist” values.

Takaichi said, “I will stake my position as prime minister,” framing the general election as effectively a vote to choose the party and prime minister to entrust with governing.

She said the goal of the election is for the LDP and the Innovation Party to secure a majority of seats. The House of Representatives has 465 seats, and by parliamentary group (kaiha) the two parties hold 233 seats—just over half.

Meanwhile, at the briefing Takaichi voiced criticism over China’s move to impose export controls on Japan on dual-use (military and civilian) materials including rare earths, following remarks she made in the Diet in November last year suggesting “intervention in the event of a Taiwan contingency.”

Taking aim at China, she said it “shows a move toward economic coercion—seeking to force other countries to submit by keeping under its control materials the world depends on and that are also widely used for people’s livelihoods.”

Lee Bo-bae, contributing reporter for Hankyung.com newsinfo@hankyung.com