Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes for big win as polls open in national elections

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi seeks a decisive election win to advance her conservative agenda amidst challenges for the LDP.

Polls opened Sunday (February 8, 2026) in parliamentary elections that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will give her struggling party a big enough win to push through an ambitious conservative political agenda.

Ms. Takaichi is hugely popular, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, is not. She called Sunday's (February 8, 2026) snap elections hoping to turn that around.

She wants to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan's economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China. She also nurtures ties with her crucial U.S. ally, and a sometimes unpredictable President Donald Trump.

The ultraconservative Ms. Takaichi, who took office as Japan's first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans.

Japan's Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Sanae Takaichi, waves her hand during an election campaign event ahead of the February 8 snap election, in Tokyo, Japan, February 7, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

The latest surveys indicated a landslide win in the lower house for the LDP. The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, is seen as too splintered to be a real challenger.