Overview
- Official campaigning begins Jan. 27, leaving a 16‑day race described as the shortest postwar timetable.
- The ruling bloc of the LDP and Japan Innovation Party holds a razor‑thin lower house majority after Komeito’s split, as Komeito joins the CDP in a new Centrist Reform Alliance.
- Inflation and living costs are set to dominate, with Takaichi pitching a two‑year consumption tax cut on food while markets fret over debt and government bond yields climb.
- A record 122.3 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2026 now faces delay, which opposition figures warn would sacrifice livelihoods.
- Takaichi’s approval sits around 70% even as LDP credibility is dented by political funding scandals involving more than 600 million yen.