The coalition that governs Japan celebrated the result of the legislative elections in which it managed to maintain a solid majority, while Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared this Monday (1) victory in a vote he considered “very difficult”.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange responded positively to the triumph of Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) and its ally Komeito, who won 293 of the 465 seats in the Lower House of Parliament.
The Nikkei index ended Monday’s session up 2.61% after the announcement of the result, which will allow the ruling coalition to try to pass projects that include economic stimulus packages and defense spending.
Although the coalition lost fewer seats than anticipated, press editorials urged Kishida to work hard and generate popular support ahead of the 2022 Senate elections.
Kishida said on Monday that the result was support for his government and the PLD, which has governed the country almost uninterruptedly since the 1950s.
“It was a very, very difficult election, but the will of the people – who want us to shape the future of this country under the stable PLD-Komeito government and the Kishida administration – was demonstrated,” he added.
He had already anticipated on Sunday that he wants to pass a stimulus package by the end of the year to counteract the economic impact of covid-19.
Kishida has laid plans to tackle inequality, aggravated by the pro-business policies of his predecessors Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe.
He also said he will seek to increase military spending to face threats from China and North Korea.
But the new prime minister must be prepared for a possible sixth wave of covid contagion and explain how his economic policy ideals will work in practice, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said in an editorial.
– Electoral battles –
Analysts had expected a drop in LDP deputies after former Prime Minister Suga resigned with just a year into office, in part because of popular discontent with the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
Japan recorded 18,000 deaths, a low number for its population of 126 million, and never imposed a general quarantine.
However, many commercial establishments, especially bars and restaurants, suffered from prolonged periods of restrictions on commercial activity.
The PLD had 276 deputies alone and Sunday’s vote reduced the number to 261, which allows it to maintain a majority in the Chamber.
In recent decades, votes against the PLD have been distributed among various opposition parties, but this time five rival formations have allied themselves to try to end the advantage.
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper pointed out that the majority party was “forced to face tough electoral battles” throughout Japan.
But political differences between the two main opponents, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and the Japanese Communist Party, particularly over the country’s relationship with the United States, led to the defeat, according to the newspaper.
At the same time, a surge in votes from the reformist Nippon Ishin party made it the third force after the PLD and CDP.
The vote had a participation rate of almost 56%, according to the Japanese press, which represents a continuation of the high abstention rate of the last elections.
Prime Minister Kishida said he wants to attend the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow as his first international engagement after the election.
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