Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s Liberal Democratic Party scored a historic win in the February 8 general election, while the largest opposition Centrist Reform Alliance lost 70 percent of the seats the two parties that formed it had before the election.

S/ Takaichi Sanae, Prime Minister / Concerning our coalition with the Japan Innovation Party, I am firmly committed to continuing it. Furthermore, if there are other parties that say they would like to work with us, I would very much like to join forces with them as well.

The LDP secured 316 seats, including independents the party endorsed after they won, surpassing two-thirds of the 465 seats in the House of Representatives.

This is the first time since the end of World War II that a single party has secured a supermajority in the lower house, the more powerful chamber of Japan’s bicameral parliament.

As a result, even if a bill passed by the House of Representatives is rejected by the House of Councillors, the LDP will be able to override the upper house’s decision with a second vote in the lower house.

The LDP’s coalition partner Japan Innovation Party won 36 seats, bringing the ruling bloc’s total to 352 seats.

S/ Noda Yoshihiko, Co-leader, Centrist Reform Alliance / I believe the responsibility I bear as leader is extremely heavy. I feel a level of responsibility that deserves ten thousand deaths.

S/ Saito Tetsuo, Co-leader, Centrist Reform Alliance / We left our former parties and made the major decision to come together under the banner of centrism. I believe we must take full responsibility for that.

The Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito had 167 seats combined before the lower house was dissolved, but the merged Centrist Reform Alliance won only 49 seats.

Party heavyweights who lost their seats include co-secretary general Azumi Jun, Edano Yukio who launched the CDP, and Ozawa Ichiro who had been elected to the lower house 19 times.

The Democratic Party for the People won 28 seats, an increase of one from before the election.

The Sanseito party made significant gains from the previous two seats to 15 proportional representation seats.

Team Mirai, contesting a lower house election for the first time, secured 11 seats in proportional representation.

The Japanese Communist Party’s seat count dropped from eight to four.

Reiwa Shinsengumi got only one proportional representation seat, down from eight before the election.

Yukoku Rengo won one seat in a single-member constituency.

The Japan Conservative Party and the Social Democratic Party both failed to win any seats.

Takaichi is expected to be reappointed as prime minister at a special Diet session scheduled for February 18.

Her first priority will be the early passage of the budget for next fiscal year starting April 1, as full deliberation on the matter is likely to be delayed until March due to the election.

As for her campaign pledge to eliminate consumption tax of food and beverages for two years, Takaichi said she plans to hold a national council meeting to discuss the matter as soon as possible.

She intends to call on both ruling and opposition parties to participate in the council.

Meanwhile, Noda and Saito have indicated they will step down as co-leaders of the Centrist Reform Alliance following the major loss.

S/ Noda Yoshihiko, Co-leader, Centrist Reform Alliance / I believe politicians are responsible for outcomes so we must take responsibility for the results. But we must also fulfill the responsibility of establishing a leadership framework before the Diet session begins, so I cannot easily take the irresponsible attitude of saying I am resigning today.

A party member who formerly belonged to the Constitutional Democratic Party attributed the loss to the merger with Komeito, saying original CDP supporters drifted away after launching the new alliance.

Another said restructuring the party just before the election was a bad move.