Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s expected call for a snap election is likely a bid to convert her personal popularity into electoral success, analysts said.
Her Liberal Democratic Party lacks a majority in either house of Parliament and is flagging in the polls, but she has a 76% approval rating. Since taking office in October, her polling has improved in large part thanks to nationalist sentiment fueled by a row with China over her suggestion that Japanese forces could intervene were Beijing to attack Taiwan.
She has also benefited from an idiosyncratic approach, playing drums with South Korea’s president this week. But the snap election carries risks: It could delay passage of Japan’s 2026 budget and price-relief measures.