Japanese PM Takaichi comes out on topJapanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has just scored an unprecedented victory in the country's general election. Only moments after Ms Takaichi became the LDP's president last October, the party's coalition partner of a quarter-century, Komeito, abruptly defected. Ms Takaichi survived the first shock by forming a new coalition with a smaller party closer to her own policy line. Ms Takaichi wants to abolish this practice and rely on a single budget at the start of the year. Ms Takaichi wants to correct this, and she has made explicit recognition of the constitutionality of Japan's armed forces central to the LDP's identity.

Source: Bangkok Post February 11, 2026 01:36 UTC