Defying expectations, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) stormed to an outright majority in the country’s parliamentary elections on Sunday. The elections were the first major test for the new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, who took over last month amid enormous challenges. He followed the short-lived tenure of Yoshihide Suga, who succeeded Shinzo Abe. Japan’s longest serving Prime Minister, Mr. Abe stepped down in 2020 citing health reasons. Mr. Suga’s year-long term was marred by his government’s poor handling of COVID-19 and economic woes. Facing the lowest approval ratings of any Japanese leader in years, he resigned. Entering the election in these circumstances, the LDP, which held 276 seats in the 465-seat House of Representatives before the polls, was bracing for a poor show, with wide expectations that it would need to rely on its coalition with the Komeito party to cross the halfway mark. But it coasted to victory unencumbered by coalition considerations.
Mr. Kishida now has to deliver on a range of pressing challenges, including the pandemic, the economy and on the security front, relations with China. He has committed to bolstering support to hospitals to ensure a far better response should Japan face another wave. On the economy front, he has put forward a “new capitalism” aimed at an economic revival keeping the interests of the middle class as a priority. He has pledged to come up with an ambitious stimulus package this month. On foreign policy, he will have to keep in mind the wishes of his party’s conservative bloc which is calling for significant increases in defence spending. Those are voices he cannot ignore considering that the new leader— Mr. Kishida was also a Foreign Minister — has no real popular support to call upon and will be beholden to what his party wants. In the election campaign, the LDP said it would double defence spending to 2% of the GDP. China’s recent air incursions into Taiwan were cited as one major reason, as also North Korea’s missile tests. Mr. Kishida has said he will focus on shoring up relations with Washington, and in his early days, has already reached out to the leaders of the Quad. He has also spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping, with positive noises about getting relations on track. Ultimately, matters at home will decide which of his two predecessors Mr. Kishida ends up emulating. Given the flagging reputation of the LDP towards the end of Mr. Abe’s term and through Mr. Suga’s turbulent time in office, the vote appears to be as much an endorsement for stability as it is for his government. It also reaffirms the LDP’s unchallenged position in domestic politics regardless of the troubles it has faced in recent years, underlining there is no serious challenger to its continued dominance.
