Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae returned to Tokyo on the afternoon of January 14 after a diplomatic event in her hometown Nara.

She is expected to meet with ruling party executives including Suzuki Shunichi, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Yoshimura Hirofumi, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the ruling LDP’s coalition partner.

Takaichi intends to notify them about her plan to dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election.

A senior administration official said she is likely to tell them that she plans to dissolve the lower house on January 23, the first day of the regular Diet session.

Arrangements are being made for official campaigning to begin on January 27, with voting to take place on February 8.

If everything goes according to this schedule, the period from lower house dissolution to voting would be 16 days, the shortest since the end of World War II.

The tight scheduling is seen as an attempt to minimize delays in discussing next fiscal year’s budget proposal in parliament and avoid criticism that measures against rising prices are being sidelined.

But one LDP executive expressed concern, questioning the justification for dissolving the lower house before the crucial task of passing the budget by the end of the fiscal year on March 31.

The executive pointed out that the election battle would become tough if the public perceives the move as political maneuvering.

There are voices within the LDP opposing an election at this time, including the party Vice President Aso Taro who is showing a cautious stance.