TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower house of Parliament on Friday, paving the way for a Feb. 8 snap election.
The move is an attempt to capitalize on her popularity to help governing party regain ground after major losses in recent years, but will delay a vote on a budget that aims at boosting a struggling economy and addressing soaring prices.
Elected in October as Japan’s first female leader, Takaichi has been in office only three months, but she has seen strong approval ratings of about 70 percent.
Takaichi is also seeing rising animosity with China since she made pro-Taiwan remarks. And US President Donald Trump wants her to spend more on weapons as Washington and Beijing pursue military superiority in the region.
The dissolution of the 465-member lower house paves the way for a 12-day campaign that officially starts Tuesday.
Takaichi hopes to win majorities
Takaichi’s plan for an early election aims to capitalize on her popularity to expand a governing majority in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber Parliament.
The scandal-tainted LDP and its coalition have a slim majority in the more powerful lower house after an election loss in 2024. The coalition does not have a majority in the upper house and relies on winning votes from opposition members to pass its agenda.
Opposition leaders criticized Takaichi for delaying passage of a budget needed to fund key economic measures.
“I believe that the only option is for the people, as sovereign citizens, to decide whether Sanae Takaichi should be prime minister,” she told a news conference Monday when announcing plans for the election. “I’m staking my career as prime minister” on it.
A hard-line conservative, Takaichi wants to highlight differences with her centrist predecessor Shigeru Ishiba.
Takaichi stresses that voters need to judge her fiscal spending moves, further military buildup and tougher immigration policies to make Japan “strong and prosperous.”
While an upbeat and decisive image has earned her strong approval ratings, especially among younger people, the LDP is not popular as it recovers from a political funds scandal. Many traditional LDP voters have shifted to emerging far-right populist opposition parties, such as the anti-globalist Sanseito.
China, Trump and corruption scandals
Meanwhile, Japan faces escalating tensions with China after Takaichi made remarks suggesting that Japan could become involved if China takes military action against Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. A furious China has increased economic and diplomatic retribution.
Takaichi wants to push further a military buildup and spending increases, while Trump has pressured Japan to spend more on defense.
Japan’s Takaichi moves toward snap election after only 3 months in office
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Japan’s Takaichi moves toward snap election after only 3 months in office
- Move an attempt to capitalize on Sanae Takaichi’s popularity to help governing party regain ground
- But it will delay a vote on a budget that aims at boosting a struggling economy and addressing soaring prices
WHO says one person dead from Nipah virus in Bangladesh
- Nipah is an infection that spreads mainly through products contaminated by infected bats, such as fruit
DHAKA: The World Health Organization said on Friday that a woman had died in northern Bangladesh in January after contracting the deadly Nipah virus infection.
The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighboring India, which has already prompted stepped-up airport screenings across Asia.
The patient in Bangladesh, aged between 40-50 years, developed symptoms consistent with Nipah virus on January 21, including fever and headache followed by hypersalivation, disorientation and convulsion, the WHO added.
She died a week later and was confirmed to be infected with the virus a day later.
The person had no travel history but had a history of consuming raw date palm sap. All 35 people who had contact with the patient are being monitored and have tested negative for the virus, and no further cases have been detected to date, the WHO said.
Nipah is an infection that spreads mainly through products contaminated by infected bats, such as fruit. It can be fatal in up to 75 percent of cases, but it does not spread easily between people.
Countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Pakistan implemented temperature screenings at airports after India said cases of the virus had been found in West Bengal.
The WHO said on Friday that the risk of international disease spread is considered low and that it does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions based on current information.
In 2025, four laboratory-confirmed fatal cases were reported in Bangladesh.
There are currently no licensed medicines or vaccines specific for the infection.
