The political party led by the prime minister won more than two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives in the elections held the previous day.

Japanese media outlets indicate that the significant increase in seats, from 198 before the elections to 315, was due to Takaichi’s personal popularity.

This result will not only allow her to remain prime minister, a position she assumed last October, but such a victory also grants her much greater power to advance her conservative political agenda, which even includes a proposed amendment to the Constitution.

According to preliminary results, the LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, secured a strong presence in the chamber with 351 of the 465 seats.

Meanwhile, the newly formed opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, comprising the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Buddhist Komeito Party, suffered a significant setback, with the parties seeing their seats reduced from 167 before the election to 49.

According to an estimate by Kyodo News, voter turnout was 56.26 percent, about two percentage points higher than in the previous election.

jdt/jav/ro/msm