Tokyo
Reuters
–
Japan’s ruling coalition of parties is likely to lose a majority in the Senate, with an exit poll coming out after Sunday’s election, which could tell political turmoil as a deadline for tariffs on US looms.
The vote does not directly determine whether Prime Minister Isba’s volatile minority government will fall, but it puts pressure on war leaders who have lost strong House control in October.
Komeito, a partner in Isba’s liberal Democrats (LDP) and coalition, needed 50 seats to maintain control of the 248-seat upper chamber. They are expected to secure between 32 and 51 seats, an exit vote by public broadcaster NHK said.
Other broadcasters predict that the dominant coalition will hold between 41 and 43 seats. If the coalition holds less than 46 seats, it marks the worst results since the coalition was formed in 1999.
This is in addition to the worst exhibit in 15 years in the House of Representatives election in October. This made Isba’s regime vulnerable to unconfident moves and calls from within his own party for a change in leadership.
Opposition parties advocating tax cuts and tough immigration policies appear to be set to make profits, and exit polls show that rising consumer prices, particularly the jump in costs for staple rice — is an important issue for voters.
“The LDP was primarily defending this election and was on the wrong side of the main voter issues,” said David Boring, director of consulting firm Eurasia Group.
“Polls show that most households want to cut sales taxes to address the inflation that the LDP opposes. The opposition seized it and cast that message into the house.”
LDP has turned its eye on the highly volatile government bond market and has called for financial restraint, as investors are concerned about Japan’s ability to refinance the world’s largest debt pile.
In addition to the uncertainty around the world’s fourth largest economy, Japan faces a deadline of August 1, with tariffs that either enter into trade agreements with the US or punish tariffs in its largest export market.
The populist Sansate Party appeared to be one of the big winners of the night. This was predicting that from just one held before, it would win 10-15 seats at the Chamber of Commerce.
Sanseito’s “Japan’s first” campaign and warnings about the “quiet invasion” of foreigners have dragged former political rhetoric into the mainstream.
“I go to graduate school, but there are no Japanese people around me. They’re all foreigners,” said Yu Nagai, a 25-year-old student who voted for Sansate on Sunday.
“I think Japanese people are being slightly underestimated when they see how compensation and money are spent on foreigners,” Nagai said after voting at a polling station in Tokyo’s Shin-Uku Ward.
