Japan voted on Sunday in an election expected to give Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a clear victory. Voters will choose legislators in 289 single-seat districts, the rest will be decided by proportional votes for parties.
Polls close at 20:00 (11:00 GMT), when broadcasters are expected to issue projections based on their exit polls.
Takaichi’s fate
The conservative coalition of Takaichi, the country’s first female leader, could win more than 300 of the 465 seats in the lower house of parliament, according to several opinion polls, Reuters reported.
If Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition with the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, wins 310 seats, it would be able to sweep the opposition-controlled upper house.
Takaichi has promised to resign if the coalition loses its majority.
Takaichi, 64, became prime minister in October after being elected leader of the LDP.
“If Takaichi wins a lot…”
Riding a wave of popularity, Takaichi sought a mandate from voters in a rare winter election.
She accelerated military spending to counter China, with whom she has sparked a diplomatic spat, and pushed through economic stimulus and tax cuts that rattled financial markets.
“If Takaichi wins, he will have more political space to honor key commitments, including the excise tax,” Seiji Inada, chief executive of FGS Global, a strategy consultancy, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“Markets could react in the coming days and it could just come under renewed pressure,” Inada added.
Takaichi also promised to suspend an eight percent tax on food sales for two years to help households cope with rising prices, caused in part by a sharp fall in the yen.
Takaichi is riding the “Sanakatsu” wave among young voters
Takaichi has sparked a social media-led sanakatsu wave, mostly among younger voters, for the products she uses, such as her purse and the pink pen she uses to scribble notes in parliament.
A recent poll found voters under 30 favored her by more than 90%. However, this young cohort is less likely to vote than the older generations who have long been the LDP’s mainstay of support.
Takaichi received the endorsement of US President Donald Trump on Thursday, a signal that may appeal to right-leaning voters but could also deter some moderates.
Snow and blizzard
With up to 70cm of snow forecast in northern and eastern areas on Sunday, some voters will have to battle a blizzard to deliver their verdict on her administration.
It is only the third post-war election held in February, with elections usually held during milder months.
In Nagaoka, rural northern Niigata Prefecture, where snow was more than 1 meter (3 feet) high on roadsides on Saturday, activists urged people to vote early to avoid expected snowstorms.
“It’s bad enough here in the cities, but there’s twice as much snow in the mountains. It’s hard to just leave the house,” said Takehiko Igarashi, a volunteer with the Japanese Communist Party, which he said is calling supporters and offering to drive them to polling stations.
Voter turnout in recent lower house elections hovered around half of 50%. Any dip on Sunday could strengthen the influence of organized electoral blocs.
One of them is Komeito, which left the coalition with the LDP last year and merged into a centrist group with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Komeito has close ties to the lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, which has at least 8 million members nationwide.