In last week’s column, ahead of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s press conference on the evening of January 19, I argued that the claim that voters should “render a verdict” on the government’s policy direction is not, by itself, a sufficient explanation for why a dissolution must occur now.
In her opening statement (as reflected in the Prime Minister’s Office’s official English translation), Takaichi said she had decided to dissolve the House of Representatives on January 23.
Asked “why now,” she argued that there was only one way forward: to ask the Japanese people—who hold sovereign power—to decide at this juncture whether she should serve as prime minister.
She then framed lower-house elections as “elections to choose the government,” stating plainly that if the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) together secure a majority, Takaichi will remain at the helm; if not, Japan will end up with a Prime Minister Noda, a Prime Minister Saito, or someone else entirely.
In doing so, she positioned the coming election as a “government-choosing election.”
This appears to be a strategy to convert the prime minister’s high approval into votes for the LDP.
