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\n Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo.
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Keisuke Hosojima\/Kyodo News\/AP<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Keisuke Hosojima\/Kyodo News\/AP<\/p>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n SEOUL \u2014 Japan’s first female Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, brought the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) its biggest electoral victory in its 71-year history, fueling her ambitions to pursue to a political agenda which she herself says could “split public opinion<\/a>.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The snap elections for the lower house of parliament were held despite the shortest campaign period in post-war history, and massive snowstorms<\/a> across much of Japan.<\/p>\n Benefitting from Takaichi’s popularity, the LDP won a two-thirds majority in the lower house, enough to override vetoes by the opposition-controlled upper house.<\/p>\n It would also allow the LDP to initiate amendments to Japan’s pacifist constitution, which the party has sought to revise since its founding in 1955, and Takaichi said she would pave the way for an eventual referendum on the issue.<\/p>\n