So, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida firmed up his month-old government with an
election that saw his Liberal Democratic Party avoid the worst-case scenarios that opinion
polls had suggested beforehand.
The LDP won 261 seats to preserve its outright majority in the 465-seat lower house dropping
from the 276 seats it held when parliament was dissolved.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida defying forecasts and keeping a majority in the election:
Let's talk about it.
Joining me live from Kobe is Yosuke Sunahara, Professor of Public Administration at Kobe
University Graduate School of Law.
I want to first look at how markets reacted to the news.
Stocks gained on the outcome, with the benchmark Topix rising as much as 1-point-8 percent
in morning trading and the blue-chip Nikkei 225 climbing more than 2-point-6 percent.
What can we
make out of this?
The election nonetheless leaves the LDP with its slimmest majority since Shinzo Abe led
the right-leaning party out of the opposition and back into government in 2012.
Would winning fewer votes make it harder for Kishida to push through his plans to raise
wages, fight inequality and spend big on economic stimulus and defense when parliament returns
later this month?
Speaking
of which...
Kishida
and his LDP have
pushed for an increase in military spending... possibly even doubling Japan's military budget...
amid worries over China's growing influence and North Korea's missile and nuclear threat.
However, this could be a sensitive issue including for countries like South Korea as the post-war
constitution limits it to a defense role.
What are your
thoughts on this?
What's your forecast on Seoul, Tokyo ties under PM
Kishida and with the LDP still with a majority
in parliament?
Yosuke Sunahara, Professor of Public Administration at Kobe University Graduate School of Law,
many thanks for speaking with us tonight.
We appreciate it.