Overview
- Official campaigning begins January 27, leaving a 16-day window from dissolution to voting, the shortest lower-house timetable since World War II.
- The LDP–Japan Innovation Party coalition aims to shore up its slim control of the 465-seat chamber, with Takaichi setting victory at retaining at least 233 seats.
- The main opposition CDP and Komeito will run jointly as the Centrist Reform Alliance, challenging the ruling bloc across single-member and proportional races.
- Takaichi’s platform includes a two-year suspension of the 8% consumption tax on food and a faster defense build-up, while the record fiscal 2026 budget may require a stopgap due to the election schedule.
- Markets reacted to the policy signals, with the Nikkei hitting records and 10-year Japanese government bond yields touching a 27-year high, as China tensions and cost-of-living concerns loom over the campaign.