In the elections for half of the seats in the less powerful upper house, the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito increased their combined share in the 248-seat chamber to 146, considerably exceeding the majority.
With the increase, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be able to continue in office until the planned election in 2025.
That would enable Kishida to work on long-term initiatives like national security, his trademark but still nebulous “new capitalism” economic policy, and his party’s ardent desire to change the Constitution that the United States adopted after World War II.
Given the loss of Abe and the challenging task of unifying his party without him, Kishida appreciated the significant victory but wasn’t grinning. Kishida reiterated: “Party unity is more vital than anything else” in interviews with the media late on Sunday.
He declared that his top priority will be the COVID-19 answers, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and price increases. He declared that in addition to a Constitutional Amendment, he will continue to advocate for strengthening Japan’s national security.
At the party election headquarters, Kishida and top party MPs spent a moment of silence for Abe before attaching victory ribbons next to the names of candidates who won their seats on the whiteboard.
Votes cast in compassion after Abe’s death might have happened. Sunday’s turnout was 52 percent, up almost 3 points from the previous year’s 48.8 percent.