Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi enjoyed a historic victory Feb. 8 when she and her Liberal Democratic Party secured a supermajority in the Lower House. This not only delivered a significant public mandate to pursue her policy objectives, it handed her institutional power to pursue it.

But that does not mean it will be an easy road for Takaichi going forward. Winning big comes with its own set of challenges, the most daunting of which will be figuring out how to manage the more than 300 politicians who are now among the party’s parliamentary ranks. Failure to corral intraparty rivals while keeping the rank-and-file members in line can quickly tear up Takaichi’s golden ticket and she will need to establish a new system within the party for carrying out these important tasks.

Landslide victories in Japanese politics can conceal fragility within the ruling party. Supermajorities reduce the need for interparty compromise, but they can actually intensify intraparty competition. When electoral pressures subside, ideological and personal rivalries tend to surface. This can frustrate implementation of policy agendas and create a sense of chaos atop the government that voters will eventually punish in future elections.

© The Japan Times