Japan election: Sanae Takaichi set for landslide victory

Japan's nationalist ruling party won a sweeping majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday, projections showed, securing a strong new mandate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to have won about 300 seats in the lower house of parliament, far exceeding the 233 seats required for a majority, national broadcaster NHK reported, basing projections on exit polls.

Together with its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the LDP was projected to win 310 seats, NHK said, giving them a two-thirds majority.

"We received [voter] backing for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's responsible, proactive fiscal policies and a strengthening of national defence capabilities," LDP secretary general Shunichi Suzuki told media.

Takaichi dissolved parliament in January and called snap elections, a gamble that she hoped would provide her and her struggling party with a stronger footing in parliament going into the new year.

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