Midway into the campaign ahead of Sanae Takaichi’s snap election, the prime minister and her Liberal Democratic Party are looking to strengthen their grip on power by securing a healthy majority in the Lower House on Feb. 8.
Takaichi’s confidence in calling an election just four months into her tenure as Japan’s leader comes from high public approval and a general fragmentation in the opposition ranks.
The latter factor was nullified to an extent by the establishment of the Centrist Reform Alliance, a partial merger in the Lower House between the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the LDP’s former coalition partner, Komeito.
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