Tokyo.- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will dissolve the House of Representatives on Friday in order to hold early elections on February 8 and translate her popularity into seats after coming to power three months ago.
The Cabinet of ministers decided in a morning meeting to dissolve the Lower House of the Diet (the Japanese Parliament) as soon as the session starts, at 13:00 local time (4:00 GMT), stated the Japanese television network NHK.
Takaichi announced last Monday her decision to dissolve the Lower House of Parliament and call for early general elections on February 8, a decision she described as “very difficult.” The prime minister came to power after winning in primaries of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last October, motivated by the resignation of her predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.
High Approval of the Takaichi Government
The Takaichi government enjoys a high approval rating, up to 62%, according to a poll released last week by the public broadcaster NHK.
The LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin), have a narrow one-seat majority in the House of Representatives (the most important of the two houses that make up the Diet), and are in the minority in the House of Councillors, due to a series of poor election results under Ishiba’s leadership.
The conservative will have to face the Centrist Reformist Alliance, a new formation self-defined as centrist and formed by the union of the Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC), the main opposition force, and the Buddhist Komeito, a coalition partner of the LDP for more than twenty years and which broke with the ruling party after the election of Takaichi as leader.
