Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's governing coalition kept a majority in a parliamentary election Sunday but was expected to lose some seats in a setback for his weeks-old government grappling with a coronavirus-battered economy and regional security challenges, according to preliminary results.
Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito together have won 274 seats as of late Sunday, with some 40 seats still undecided, in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber Diet, public broadcaster NHK reported.
"The lower house election is about choosing a leadership," Kishida told NHK. "With the ruling coalition certainly keeping the majority, I believe we received a mandate from the voters." Kishida's immediate task has been to rally support for a party weakened by Suga's perceived high-handed approach to pandemic measures and his insistence on holding the Tokyo Summer Olympics despite widespread opposition because of a high number of coronavirus cases, which have since dropped sharply.
On the economy, Kishida has emphasized growth by raising incomes, while opposition groups focus more on redistribution of wealth and call for cash payouts to pandemic-hit low-income households.
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