Sanae Takaichi, not LDP won record mandate in Japan, say experts

Experts view Sanae Takaichi's election win as a mandate for stronger security policies and closer ties with India amid rising tensions with China.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide victory in snap polls she had called for, are seen as a vote for a strong security policy in Japan, could mean more tensions with China and hold out hope for closer India ties in the Indo-Pacific, say experts.

In particular, the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP’s) record performance winning two-thirds of the Japanese House of Representatives will accrue to Ms. Takaichi personally, given the LDP’s poor performance in the past. Ms. Takaichi, who first came to power after an in-party election in October 2025, was preceded by Shigeru Ishiba, Fumio Kishida, and Yoshihide Suga, all of whom served as PM for 2-3 years.

“The win is entirely due to PM Takaichi’s personal popularity,” said former Ambassador to Japan Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, comparing the “drubbing the LDP had got” in the 2024 elections to the latest polls, where the LDP won 316 of 465 seats. “As a protégé  of former PM Shinzo Abe, she can be expected to carry on his legacy, and that means focus on the Indo-Pacific and valuing close ties with India,” Ms. Wadhwa told The Hindu.

In particular, Ms. Takaichi’s personal style in international engagements won her many voters, Tomohiko Taniguchi, professor at Japan’s Keio University and an advisor to former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said.

“The way she smiled with Donald Trump, the way she embraced the Italian Prime Minister, and the way she sat down at the drum set with the president of South Korea—all this set her dramatically apart from her three immediate predecessors: Suga, Kishida, and, worse still, Ishiba, none of whom learned how to connect with ordinary people,” he added, pointing to PM Takaichi’s  “viral” social media content.

The Japanese PM will now be watched most closely for whether she sets out mend fences with China, or step up the country’s security policies to counter its maritime neighbour with whom tensions have been high since November, when Ms. Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan set off a series of economic sanctions by China.