Upcoming Japan snap election will be ‘very much an interesting race’: Analyst

0 January 20, 2026 03:37

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday (Jan 19) called for a snap election on Feb 8, as she seeks a stronger mandate for her coalition government. She is expected to dissolve parliament on Friday. This will be her first electoral test since taking office last October. Takaichi is seeking to capitalise on high approval ratings and to restore the Liberal Democratic Party’s majority in the powerful lower house. Tomohiko Taniguchi, special advisor at the Fujitsu Future Studies Centre and former special adviser to the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, discusses the election with CNA’s Asia First.

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