Conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Ruling Party Roars to a Landslide in Snap Elections

Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, led her long- ruling Liberal-Democratic Party to overwhelming success in a “snap election” Sunday that fortifies her goals of building up the country’s military strength and reviving a stagnant economy.In danger of losing its historic grip on power, the LDP achieved the landslide it needed not only to ensure its predominance over Japanese life but also to project Ms. Takaichi’s image as a charismatic figure with a right-wing agenda for reviving Japan as a great nation able to compete with Communist China for power and influence.As the voting ended on a snowy day that kept many people from heading out to the polls, the LDP captured more than 300 of the 465 seats in the lower house, or Diet, of Japan’s parliament, which elects the prime minister. By decimating the opposition, Ms. Takaichi can now ram through a program geared to what her adherents say will “make Japan great again” without the need of an allied minority party.Ms. Takaichi placed her success squarely on the populist appeal of the elections that she called after having already emerged as prime minister of a coalition government formed after elections in October that exposed the LDP’s waning popularity.Confident of the resurgent power of the LDP, she credited “rank-and-file party members and people across the nation who were watching this race with bated breath,” according to Japan’s biggest-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun. Framing her win as “a reflection of grassroots support,” Yomiuri quoted her as saying the voting showed not only her own “awareness of public scrutiny “but also the importance of aligning voter sentiment in future elections.”Ms. Takaichi, 64, with a reputation as both a long-time conservative and a vibrant figure distinguished from the elderly men who form the rank-and-file of LDP leadership, won the support of women and young people who often avoid politics.For America, Communist China and Russia, the most significant aspect of Ms. Takaichi’s agenda will be her program to expand the role of Japan’s euphemistically named Self-Defense Forces, restrained as they are by Article 9 of Japan’s post-war constitution from waging war beyond Japan’s borders. She may not call for revising the constitution but is expected to look for ways to get around the wording, enabling Japanese ships and planes to operate freely at crisis points from the waters around the island democracy of Taiwan to the South China Sea, which China claims in entirety.Ms. Takaichi was expected to govern where she left off before dissolving the Diet and calling Sunday’s elections. She has “focused on a dual approach to defense and economic policies,“ said the Diplomat, a website covering Asia from Washington. “ By “modernizing military capabilities to counter emerging threats,” she promises to strengthen defense by enhancing technological capabilities.”The inference was that Ms. Takaichi’s government would build up its inventory of missiles, drones and aircraft needed to counter threats from China, which has been criticizing her for having implied that Japan would rush to the defense of Taiwan if China ever attempted to place it under mainland control. Also implicit in her policy would be the emergence of Japan as a major manufacturer of arms for export, banned under Article 9.She will “most likely ramp up the arms race by sabre-rattling egged on by the war mongers in Washington,” a leftist critic told the Sun. “A majority (in the Diet) puts her party in a position to build up military power and possibly change the constitution. The left is particularly worried about the latter.”

Conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Ruling Party Roars to a Landslide in Snap Elections

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