The Tamesis
January 15, 2026
Tokyo – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is likely to hold a House of Representatives election on February 8, meaning the time between dissolution of the House of Representatives will be unusually short.
She aims to limit the impact on fiscal 2026 budget deliberations and remain consistent with her administration’s policy of prioritizing the economy by winning a short but decisive election battle.
Takaichi held a joint press conference with visiting South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in Nara on Tuesday. Although this was her first media interview since reports that she was considering dissolving the House of Representatives, Takaichi did not comment on the matter.
However, she told people around her that once she decided to dissolve the House of Representatives, she was determined to fight for elections in the shortest possible time.
Government and ruling party officials are turning their sights on dissolution, reflecting the determination of her short-lived fight. On Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara held talks with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Suzuki Shunichi and Liberal Democratic Party Senate Secretary-General Junichi Ishii. According to sources, they shared views on the timing of dissolution and elections.
Hiroshi Kajiyama, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s parliamentary affairs committee, and Takashi Endo, a member of the Japan Reform Party, also held talks at the Capitol. They confirmed cooperation between the ruling parties with an eye on the elections.
If Gao Shi dissolves the House of Representatives on January 23 and sets the House of Representatives election on February 8, there will only be 16 days between dissolution and voting, which will be the shortest interval since the end of World War II. When former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the House of Representatives for the 2021 House of Representatives elections, the vote was held just 17 days after the dissolution.
maintain a short political vacuum
Takaichi’s focus on shortening the gap between the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the election is because she intends to minimize the impact on the fiscal year 2026 budget deliberations and align with economic policy priorities. The election could make it difficult to pass a budget before the end of the fiscal year. Even so, setting an earliest election date would increase the chances of passing a budget more quickly.
The Prime Minister also underlined her commitment to foreign policy, security and crisis management. In view of international tensions, including developments in Iran, a source close to her said that Gao Shi believes that “the shorter the political vacuum caused by the House of Representatives election, the better.”
Electoral strategy also appears to be a factor influencing the timing of dissolution and elections. Opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the National Democratic Party, and the Komeito Party have not yet completed preparations for the nomination of candidates for the House of Representatives election and the coordination of election candidates. A senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party stressed that it would be best for the ruling coalition not to give the opposition parties time to prepare.
The Yomiuri Shimbun national survey in December showed that the approval rate of Takaichi’s cabinet was 73%. Many in the governing coalition are also said to believe it would be prudent to act before momentum wanes.
Opposition cannot prevent dissolution
What caught Takaichi off guard was that opposition parties increasingly took a confrontational stance against the prime minister in an effort to curb her actions.
DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki said on Tuesday that the dissolution would only delay the handling of economic affairs. It was not until December last year that the Liberal Democratic Party agreed to increase the “annual income threshold” (income tax collection threshold) to 1.78 million yen, and then reached cooperation with the Liberal Democratic Party to pass the fiscal year 2026 budget as soon as possible. “This is not what we agreed to,” said a senior member of the DPFP.
“We cannot afford a political vacuum because we need to execute the budget seamlessly,” Democratic Party leader Yoshihiko Noda told reporters.
However, the opposition was unable to prevent the dissolution. Speaking at a party meeting on Tuesday, Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito, whose party was in the ruling coalition until October, questioned the possible dissolution as something that “ignores people’s livelihood”. But he added: “We can’t stop [Takaichi from dissolving the lower house]. This is the exclusive purview of the Prime Minister. “
