Japan’s Sanae Takaichi aims for blizzard of votes in rare winter election

TOKYO – Japanese voters trudged through snow on Feb 8 to cast their ballots in an election predicted to hand Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a resounding win, though record snow dumps in some parts of the country snarled traffic and could dent turnout.

The conservative coalition of Ms Takaichi,

Japan’s first female leader

, is on track to win more than 300 of the 465 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, according to multiple opinion polls, a large gain from the 233 it is defending.

Outside a polling station in a small town in the central prefecture of Niigata, where snow piled up by more than 2m in some places, teacher Kazushige Cho, 54, said he was determined to vote for Ms Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) despite the snowy conditions.

“She’s shown strong leadership and pushes various policies forward,” he said. “I think things could turn out quite well.”

Ms Takaichi, 64, who became prime minister in October after being selected leader of the LDP, sought a mandate from voters in a rare winter election as she rides a wave of popularity.

With a straight-talking style and an image as a hard worker that have won her support, especially among younger voters, she has accelerated military spending to counter China, which she sparked a diplomatic row with, and pushed economic stimulus and tax cuts that have rattled financial markets.

Mr Seiji Inada, managing director at FGS Global, a strategic advisory consultancy, said: “If Takaichi wins big, she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments, including on consumption tax. Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”

Ms Takaichi’s promise to suspend the 8 per cent sales tax on food for two years to help households cope with rising prices has spooked investors concerned about how the nation with the heaviest debt burden among advanced economies will fund the plan.

Niigata resident Mineko Mori, 74, padding through the snow with her dog early on Feb 8, said she is worried that Ms Takaichi’s tax cuts could saddle future generations with an even bigger burden.

Ms Mori planned to vote for Sanseito, a small far-right party that broke through in a 2025 Upper House ballot with promises to crack down on badly behaved foreigners and control immigration.

But younger voters are among the most supportive of Ms Takaichi, with one recent poll finding that more than 90 per cent of those under 30 favoured her.

The Prime Minister has sparked

an unlikely youth-led craze

called “sanakatsu”, roughly translated as “Sanae-mania”, with the products she uses,

such as her handbag

and the pink pen she scribbles notes with in Parliament, in high demand.

That young cohort, however, is less likely to vote than the older generations that have long been the bedrock of LDP support.

On Feb 5, Ms Takaichi received the endorsement of US President Donald Trump, a signal that may appeal to right-leaning voters but could also put off some moderates.

If the coalition of Ms Takaichi’s LDP with the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, wins 310 seats, it would be able to override the opposition-controlled Upper Chamber.

If the polls have it all wrong and Ms Takaichi loses control of the Lower House, she has vowed to step down if the coalition loses its majority.

Whiteout could boost organised voting blocs

With up to 70cm of snow forecast in the northern and eastern regions on Feb 8, some voters will have to battle blizzards to pass their verdict on her administration. It is only the third post-war election held in February, with elections typically called during milder months.

In Nagaoka in the rural northern prefecture of Niigata, where snow was piled more than a metre high along the roadsides on Feb 7, campaigners urged people to vote early to avoid expected snow storms.

“It’s bad enough here in the towns, but in the mountains, there’s twice as much snow. It’s hard just to leave the house,” said Mr Takehiko Igarashi, a volunteer for the Japanese Communist Party, which he said was calling up supporters and offering to drive them to polling stations.

Turnout in recent Lower House elections has hovered around the mid-50 per cent range. Any slump on Feb 8 could amplify the influence of organised voting blocs.

One of those is Komeito, which in 2025 quit its coalition with the LDP and has merged into a centrist group with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Komeito has close ties to the lay-Buddhist Soka Gakkai group, which claims at least eight million members nationwide.

Voters will pick lawmakers in 289 single-seat constituencies, with the rest decided by proportional-representation votes for parties. Polls close at 8pm local time (7pm Singapore time), when broadcasters are expected to issue projections based on their exit polls. REUTERS