Japan’s ruling coalition is set to win a two-thirds majority in the lower house election, media projections showed on Sunday (Feb 8), in what would be a big victory for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) alone had already secured the 233 seats needed for a majority around 90 minutes after polls closed. 

Her party is projected to win as many as 328 seats, which would be its best-ever result, national broadcaster NHK reported.

When Takaichi took office in October, the LDP was 37 seats short of a majority in the lower house – a position that worsened when Komeito, its coalition partner, broke away and joined hands with the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party to form the Centrist Reform Alliance.

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