(Adnkronos) – The new conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi – Japan’s first female prime minister, in office since late October – today dissolved the lower house of parliament, paving the way for early elections on February 8. Takaichi is leading in the polls and aims to increase the slim majority held by her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its ally, the neoliberal Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), in the National Diet.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power almost continuously since 1955, recently lost its majority in both houses of the Diet. The LDP hopes to win back conservative voters who have turned to the smaller far-right Sanseito party.
The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan led by former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, announced that it will join forces with Komeito in a new centrist reformist party that proposes itself as a liberal alternative to Takaichi’s conservative coalition. Komeito had been a coalition partner of the LDP for 26 years but withdrew its support in October in response to Takaichi’s tough stance on party funding and security policy.
