S/ Mori Eisuke, Lower house speaker / Takaichi Sanae has been designated as prime minister by this house.

Takaichi Sanae was reelected by parliament as Japan’s 105th prime minister on February 18 when a special Diet session got underway.

She won a vast majority of votes cast in the House of Representatives, the more powerful chamber of the bicameral Diet.

While she failed to gain a majority in the first round of voting in the House of Councillors, Takaichi managed to secure more than half the ballots in the runoff of the upper house.

She is set to meet with Yoshimura Hirofumi, the representative of the Japan Innovation Party, the Liberal Democratic Party’s junior coalition partner, and launch her second Cabinet later in the day.

As Diet proceedings were delayed after Takaichi dissolved the lower house in late January for a general election, she is expected to retain all her Cabinet members to expedite deliberations on the draft budget for next fiscal year starting April 1.

The Japanese leader has also expressed her intention to take on the challenges of revising the Constitution and the imperial house law, indicating her determination to push forward her key policies with a sense of urgency.

Now that the LDP alone has more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house, the ruling bloc is poised to dominate the Diet proceedings, prompting opposition parties to call for sufficient time to discuss agenda items.

LDP Secretary-General Suzuki Shunichi said the party will seek cooperation from opposition parties while listening to their assertions.

The special Diet session is scheduled for 150 days until July 17.