Tokyo: Japan’s ruling party has made a sweeping victory in the House of Councillors election that was held on Sunday.
According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) grabbed 63 seats, or more than half of the 125 seats up for grabs, buoyed by strong voter support in a show of public confidence in his nine-month-old administration despite the country struggling with rising prices and security threats posed by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito had secured a total of 76 seats, thus, retaining a majority in the 248-member upper chamber of parliament.
The pro-constitutional amendment camp, comprising the LDP-Komeito coalition, two opposition parties, and independents, secured 179 seats in the upper chamber, Kyodo News reported.
The PM is likely to reshuffle his Cabinet and ruling party executives by September, according to LDP sources.
The election was held in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a lower house member, and a key LDP figure. He was shot on July 8 in Nara while giving a speech in support of LDP.
His death has unified the major parties in their resolve to not yield to political violence.
