By John Geddie and Tim Kelly
TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s coalition is set for a landslide win in Sunday’s election, exit polls showed, paving the way for her tax cuts that have spooked financial markets and military spending aimed at countering China.
Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, could secure as many as 366 of the 465 seats in the more-powerful lower house, a supermajority that would ease her legislative agenda, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The LDP alone had already secured the 233 seats needed for a majority around 90 minutes after polls closed. Her party is projected to win as many as 328 seats, which would be its best-ever result.
Japan’s first female prime minister, 64, called the rare winter snap election to capitalise on her buoyant personal approval ratings since she was elevated to lead the ruling LDP late last year.
TAKAICHI’S RARE WINTER ELECTION PAYS OFF
Voters have been drawn to her straight-talking, hardworking image, but her nationalistic leanings and emphasis on security have strained ties with powerful neighbour China, while her promises of tax cuts have rattled financial markets.
Residents trudged through snow to cast their ballots with record snowfall in parts of the country snarling traffic and requiring some polling stations to close early.
It is only the third postwar election held in February, with elections typically called during milder months.
Outside a polling station in the town of Uonuma in the mountainous Niigata prefecture, teacher Kazushige Cho, 54, braved below-freezing temperatures and deep snow to cast his vote for Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party.
“It feels like she’s creating a sense of direction – like the whole country pulling together and moving forward. That really resonates with me,” he said.
But Takaichi’s election promise to suspend the 8% sales tax on food to help households cope with rising prices has spooked investors concerned about how the nation with the heaviest debt burden among advanced economies will fund the plan.
“Her plans for the cut in the consumption tax leave open big question marks about funding and how she’s going to go about making the arithmetic add up,” said Chris Scicluna, head of research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe in London.
The head of Japan’s top business lobby Keidanren, Yoshinobu Tsutsui, welcomed the result as restoring political stability. “Japan’s economy is now at a critical juncture for achieving sustainable and strong growth,” he said.
The LDP, which has ruled for almost all of Japan’s postwar history, had lost control of both houses in elections over the past 15 months under Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.
JAPAN’S ‘IRON LADY’ DREW CHINA’S IRE
Takaichi – who says she draws inspiration from Britain’s “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher – has built a sizable following on social media and become remarkably popular with younger voters, opinion polls show.
She has even sparked a “sanakatsu” craze, roughly translated as “Sanae-mania”, with the products she uses, such as her handbag and the pink pen she scribbles notes with in parliament, in high demand.
U.S. President Donald Trump – whom Takaichi hosted in Tokyo shortly after she became prime minister in October, showering him in golfing gifts – last week bestowed on her his “total endorsement”.
China will also be keeping a close eye on the results.
Weeks after taking office, Takaichi touched off the biggest dispute with Beijing in over a decade by publicly outlining how Tokyo might respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
China responded with several economic countermeasures, including urging its citizens not to travel to Japan.
A strong Takaichi mandate could also accelerate her plans to bolster Japan’s defences, further angering Beijing, which has cast her as attempting to revive its militaristic past.
Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told TV stations as election results rolled in that he wanted to proceed “with speed” on policies to strengthen Japan’s defence while pursuing dialogue with China.
“Beijing will not welcome Takaichi’s victory,” said David Boling, principal at the Asia Group, a firm that advises companies on geopolitical risk.
“China now faces the reality that she is firmly in place — and that its efforts to isolate her completely failed.”
(Reporting by John Geddie, Tim Kelly, Kantaro Komiya, Chang-Ran Kim, Joseph Campbell and Tom Bateman; Editing by William Mallard)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.