The election resulted in a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) landslide of 316 seats, the largest result in postwar Japan. Its main opponent the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) only won 49 seats, less than a third of its pre-election total.  In fact, LDP were entitled to 330 seats, but they won so many constituencies that they shortchanged themselves on the party lists. Japan’s mixed electoral system combines constituency races with regional party lists, allowing candidates to run in both. Candidates who lose locally can still enter parliament through the list system, while winners are removed from it. The LDP won so many constituencies in four of the eleven regions that it exhausted its available bloc list candidates — forfeiting in total 14 seats it had earned, six of them to the CRA. The record LDP victory, in other words, should have been even larger.

Sanae Takaichi of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) became prime minister of Japan in October 2025 and proved instantly popular with voters. Her gender, middle-class background, and forceful speaking style stand out in a country where politicians have been overwhelmingly male, traditional, and often have inherited their seats from family members. Takaichi has reinforced this appeal, particularly among younger voters, through a strong social media presence and disciplined self-branding.

Although she ruled out an immediate election, opposition parties began preparing for one in November. After all, the LDP had only won 191 of the 465 seats in the 2024 House of Representatives (lower house) election. Takaichi’s confidence and supply agreement with the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party (JIP) and the addition of three independents to the LDP caucus gave her government the barest of majorities in the House of Representatives (233........

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