Overview
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she will dissolve the lower house on Jan. 23, with official campaigning starting Jan. 27 and voting on Feb. 8, the shortest lower-house timetable since World War II.
- The LDP’s draft pledges renew a “responsible yet aggressive” fiscal stance and consider a two-year suspension of the 8% consumption tax on food and beverages, alongside plans for a new investment-focused budget framework.
- The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito are formalizing the Centrist Reform Alliance, with 144 of 148 CDPJ lower-house members joining and plans to field over 200 candidates, including 25–29 backed by Komeito.
- The Democratic Party for the People is charting an independent path and aims to run about 100 candidates, rejecting overtures to join the new alliance.
- Takaichi casts the election as a personal mandate bid as the LDP–Japan Innovation Party bloc defends a narrow lower-house majority, drawing opposition criticism over potential delays to the fiscal 2026 budget.