23 Oct 2017 | 12:22 PM UTC
Japan: Prime Minister Abe’s party wins Oct. 22 elections /update 1
PM Shinzo Abe’s party wins snap election held on October 22, which he called for after dissolving parliament September 28
Event
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 313 of the 465 seats in the lower house of Japan’s parliament in the legislative elections held on Sunday, October 22. Voter turnout was estimated at 53.7 percent.
This victory raises Abe’s chances of securing a third three-year term as leader of the LDP when internal party voting takes place in September 2018 and gives him the opportunity to remain prime minister until 2021, which would make him become Japan’s longest-serving PM. The victory also gives LDP the power to revise the constitution, including Abe’s stated goal of revising the clause renouncing war and thus formally recognizing Japan’s military.
Context
On September 25, Abe announced his intent to dissolve parliament’s lower house, effective on September 28, and called for the early election. Heightened tensions with North Korea have helped Abe regain support and retain his coalition’s two-thirds majority in the lower house. Abe previously suffered from low approval ratings following a series of scandals, but his hard line against North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs has proven popular.
