Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s Prime Minister, announced on Monday (19 January) that she will dissolve parliament this week and call snap general elections for 8 February 2026, accelerating a vote previously due by October 2028.
Speaking in Tokyo, Takaichi confirmed the lower house will be dissolved on Friday, with the official campaign beginning 27 January. She is leading a minority government after her Liberal Democratic Party lost its lower-house majority in 2024 and the upper house in 2025.
“I believe that the only option is for the people, as sovereign citizens, to decide whether or not Sanae Takaichi should be prime minister,” she said at a news conference in Tokyo.
Key developments
• A governing bloc requires 233 seats in the 465-seat lower house to form a government.
• Takaichi proposed a two-year consumption tax exemption on food.
• Opposition parties formed the Centrist Reform Alliance, pledging economic relief and political reform.
Takaichi also criticised China for “economic coercion,” amid deteriorating bilateral ties linked to Taiwan-related remarks.
Follow on social media TikTok@tut0ughInstagram@tut0ugh Threads@tut0ugh X@tut0ugh YouTube@tut0ugh
tut0ugh 