Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservatives are set for a resounding win in Sunday’s snap election, but her bold foreign and economic policies raise questions for Japan’s future.
TOKYO: Japan votes in snap elections on Sunday with polls pointing to a resounding win for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservatives.
The country’s first woman leader has enjoyed a political honeymoon since taking office in October.
Her tough talk on immigration appears to have snuffed out the rise of the populist “Japanese first” Sanseito party. “The words she uses are easy to understand,” Mikitaka Masuyama, professor of Japanese politics at GRIPS, told AFP.
Despite dipping in recent weeks, her cabinet has enjoyed approval ratings of around 70%. Surveys indicate the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will easily win more than the 233 seats needed to regain a majority in the lower house.
The ruling bloc of the LDP and its coalition partner Japan Innovation Party could surpass 300 seats out of 465. This would give it a powerful two-thirds majority.
The 64-year-old arch-conservative has become something of a fashion icon and a hit on social media. “It’s not just because she’s a woman… overall, it’s because she championed the idea of a society where the people can have hope for the future,” high-school student Makoto Hara, 17, told AFP.
Her tenure has already angered China and rattled financial markets. Barely two weeks in office, Takaichi suggested Japan would intervene militarily if China sought to take self-ruled Taiwan by force.
Beijing’s reaction to the unscripted remarks was furious. It summoned Tokyo’s ambassador and conducted joint air drills with Russia around the Japanese archipelago.
Yee Kuang Heng, a professor in international security at the University of Tokyo, said tensions with China might ease if the election bolsters Takaichi. “Beijing recognises strength and could calculate that she has more staying power than anticipated,” Heng told AFP.
Takaichi’s economic policies have also worried investors. Her USD 135 billion stimulus package and pledge to exempt food from an eight percent consumption tax have pushed bond yields to record highs.
Japan already has the biggest ratio of debt to GDP among major economies, expected to exceed 230% this fiscal year. She caused further unease last weekend by talking up the benefits of a weak yen.
Abhijit Surya at Capital Economics said he was not worried Takaichi would be “fiscally profligate”. “In the event that the government did attempt to play fast and loose with the public finances, we would expect bond markets to put it in check,” the economist said.
