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Did This Issue Catapult Japanese Conservatives to a Landslide Win in Their Elections?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 11, 2026 7:00 AM

The recent electoral victory for the Japanese Right was overwhelming. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attained a supermajority in the snap election, which took many, including her own party members, by surprise. Although perceived as a strategic gamble, it proved to be successful (via NBC News):

Takaichi, who took office in October after being elected leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), surpassed the 310 seats needed for a supermajority in the 465-seat lower house, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported from the official election count Sunday evening. The supermajority allows her ruling coalition to override the upper house, where it lacks a majority. 

An NHK exit poll as voting ended earlier Sunday projected the LDP would win 274 to 326 seats. The party and its coalition partner, Ishin, were projected to win a combined 302 to 366 seats as voters turned out amid freezing temperatures in a rare winter election. 

The far-right Sanseito party, which promises to put “Japanese first,” was projected to take up to 14 seats, according to the exit poll, which would quadruple its numbers but fall short of the 30 it had targeted. 

Speaking from LDP headquarters as the results came in, Takaichi said her party’s coalition with Ishin would continue, adding that she would place importance on fiscal sustainability and had no plans for a major cabinet reshuffle. 

President Trump congratulated Takaichi on her win, which clears the way for her tax cut proposal. Yet, some were noting how many of the conservative parties in Japan railed against increased immigration levels during the campaign (via NYT): 

Ms. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party won in a landslide, securing a rare supermajority in the 465-member House of Representatives, the lower house of Japan’s bicameral Parliament, according to NHK, the public broadcaster. The party won 316 seats, up from 198, NHK said — the first time since World War II that a Japanese political party has won more than two-thirds of the seats. 

The result clears the way for Ms. Takaichi to enact a conservative agenda on defense and social issues and to strengthen her position on the global stage, with President Trump having given her candidacy a ringing endorsement. 

[…] 

Ms. Takaichi’s win comes as right-wing groups in Japan are gaining strength. Sanseito, a Japanese political party that shares some similarities to Mr. Trump’s MAGA movement, won 15 seats, up from two, according to NHK. The party has an outsize voice in national politics, and it has put pressure on Ms. Takaichi to move swiftly to raise stagnant wages and crack down on immigration. 

It’s an issue that animates the electorate, and Democrats here want open borders, criminal aliens running wild, and allowing these people to soak up federal benefits. Navigate that at your peril, guys.