Japan’s Takaichi eyes decisive mandate as polls point to snap election landslide

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is poised to lead her ruling coalition to a landslide victory in this weekend’s snap election, a Nikkei poll has shown The poll, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, showed that the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, were likely to secure more than 300 of the 465 seats in the Lower House.

The findings echo an earlier poll by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, which also projected that the ruling bloc would gain more than 300 seats. The Central Reform Alliance — an alliance of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito — is forecast to have its seat count roughly halved from the current 167 seats, according to the Nikkei poll.

Separate polling by Kyodo News suggests the LDP could secure a single-party majority of more than 233 seats on its own.

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