LDP Secures Solo Majority in Lower House in Japan...Tax Cuts and Military Buildup Gain Momentum

Landslide Confirmed Early in General Election Vote Count
LDP Reestablishes Its "Single Dominant Party System"

Yonhap News Agency

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured a majority of seats (233 seats) early in the vote count for the House of Representatives election (general election) held on the 8th, confirming a landslide victory. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's tax-cut policy and plans to expand military spending are now expected to gain momentum.

According to NHK's election coverage of the vote count results, as of 9:55 p.m. on the same day the LDP had secured 239 seats. The LDP currently holds 198 seats.

Previously, in the December 2012 general election, the LDP won 294 out of a total of 480 seats, regaining power it had lost to the Democratic Party in 2009. Since then, through three additional general elections held up to 2021, it established a dominant system with a majority of seats.

In the 2021 general election under then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the LDP won 261 out of 465 seats, and in the 2017 election under the Shinzo Abe administration it swept 284 out of 465 seats.

In 2017, together with Komeito, the former coalition partner from which it has since parted ways, the LDP held 313 seats, enjoying an overwhelming advantage in the House of Representatives. However, it suffered a crushing defeat in the 2024 general election and failed to maintain a majority. Building on its landslide victory in this general election, the LDP has now reestablished a "single dominant party system."

The Japan Innovation Party, its coalition partner, has secured 33 seats. As a result, the total number of seats held by the ruling camp of the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party currently stands at 272, already surpassing the "absolutely stable majority" threshold of 261 seats. With an absolutely stable majority, they can monopolize all 17 standing committee chairmanships in the House of Representatives and also hold a majority in each committee.

While the vote count is still underway, exit polls by major media outlets predict that the ruling camp may possibly win more than 310 seats, which is two-thirds of the total 465 seats in the House of Representatives.

If the ruling camp holds 310 or more seats in the House of Representatives, it will be able to pass bills through a second vote in the lower house even if they are rejected in the House of Councillors, where the opposition currently holds a majority, thereby enabling it to push ahead with its policy agenda unimpeded. In addition, 310 seats is the number required in the House of Representatives to initiate a constitutional amendment proposal.