{"id":414751,"date":"2026-02-08T14:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414751\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T14:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:55:10","slug":"japans-ultra-conservative-prime-minister-set-to-seize-more-power-exit-poll-shows-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414751\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister set to seize more power, exit poll shows | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister is set to seize more power after an exit poll suggested she has secured a big majority in the lower house following a snap election.<\/p>\n

Sanae Takaichi’s coalition is predicted to win between 302 and 366 of the 465 seats in the chamber, according to national broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n

That is well above the 233 needed for a majority.<\/p>\n

\"Sanae<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Sanae Takaichi. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

It comes after Ms Takaichi, 64, called the winter election, seeking to capitalise on her own high approval ratings.<\/p>\n

Betting on herself, she pledged to secure a majority or step down.<\/p>\n

A former heavy metal drummer, she says immigration and tourism has led to “foreigner fatigue” in Japan<\/a>, and her nationalist rhetoric has stoked tensions with China.<\/p>\n

She’s also anti-gay marriage and a vocal defender of traditional gender roles, and sees late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a role model.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, her government plans to step away from Japan’s post-war pacifist principles, bolstering the military and lifting a ban on weapons exports.<\/p>\n

Ms Takaichi became the nation’s first female prime minister in October, pledging to “work, work, work” and nurturing an upbeat image.<\/p>\n

\"Ms<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Ms Takaichi playing the drums with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

She’s won support among younger voters and her personal style has been praised by fans, with admirers now facing a nine-month wait to purchase her signature Hamano black bag.<\/p>\n

Read more:
Japan’s drum-playing, Trump-hugging, China-provoking PM<\/a>
Can Japan’s first female PM tighten her grip on power<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ms<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Ms Takaichi with President Trump. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

She became prime minister after taking charge of the struggling Liberal Democratic Party, whose fortunes she is credited with transforming.<\/p>\n

The party had grown accustomed to power, having governed almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, except for two brief windows – from 1993 to 1996, and from 2009 to 2012.<\/p>\n

But it suffered setbacks in recent years, enduring one of its worst electoral performances ever in 2024 amid a backdrop of a financial scandal and economic stagnation, and losing its majority in the lower house.<\/p>\n

The lower house, or House of Representatives, is the stronger of the two chambers that comprise the National Diet – the Japanese equivalent of parliament.<\/p>\n

A stronger hand there will empower Ms Takaichi to make progress on her right-wing agenda, including passing a record-setting 122.3 trillion yen (\u00a3571bn) budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister is set to seize more power after an exit poll suggested she has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-414751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}