Japan snap election: Who’s standing and what’s at stake? 

Japanese voters head to the polls this weekend for a snap election called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who became the country’s first female prime minister in October last year.

While she has only been in power for a few months, Takaichi is enormously popular in Japan and hopes to translate that goodwill into more seats for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the lower house of parliament.

Here’s what you need to know:

When will the election take place, and who will participate?

The upcoming vote will be held on Sunday, February 8, for all 465 seats in the House of Representatives. There are more than 1,200 candidates on the ballot, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK World.

Parties include the LDP, the new Centrist Reform Alliance, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party and the Conservative Party of Japan, among others.

There are approximately 105 million registered voters in Japan. More than 4.5 million have already taken part in early voting, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Monday.

What are the key issues for this election?

The rising cost of living is front and centre in this election. Consumer prices are on the rise while real wage growth is lagging behind inflation, so paycheques are not going as far as they once did.

Japan also has a longstanding problem with slow economic growth. The economy only grew 1.1 percent last year, and it is on track to grow by just 0.7 percent in 2026, according to the IMF. The “goldilocks” rate of economic growth considered healthy for a developed nation is between 2 percent and 3 percent.

Parties are campaigning on varying strategies to tackle economic concerns, such as cutting Japan’s consumption tax or revising income tax rates. While the governing LDP wants to stimulate growth in the economy, some opposition parties are campaigning for greater welfare and others, like the Japan Innovation Party is pushing for deregulation.

Another election concern for some parties is the role of foreigners in a rapidly ageing society. Foreign residents topped 2.5 million in 2025, and they tend to fill major employment gaps, but they are also changing the face of Japan’s once largely homogenous society – much to the chagrin of more conservative voters.

The LDP is in favour of “selective” immigration by foreign workers to fill specific labour shortages. It has beefed up immigration regulations, however.

What’s at stake in this election?

The election will be a significant test for the governing LDP.

The party has led Japan almost continuously since the end of World War II, but it has suffered serious setbacks at the polls in recent years because of a series of corruption scandals. The party is hoping for a comeback after losing its majority in both houses.

Party members have been implicated in a long-running slush fund scandal over the alleged misuse of campaign funds, and the former prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, was the target of infighting.

Takaichi won the post of prime minister in October through an internal leadership race within the LDP and made history as Japan’s first female prime minister. Takaichi has a very high approval rating in recent opinion polls, but she is still governing through a coalition with the Japan Innovation Party. A victory for the LDP now would shore up her position as prime minister.

What’s on Takaichi’s agenda?

A victory in the lower house would help Takaichi push forward with an agenda of economic reform and expanding Japan’s defences.

She also wants to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution – something that has never been done before – citing security concerns like a potential conflict between China, the US and Taiwan.

The US is a treaty ally of Japan, while Taiwan is both hugely popular with the Japanese public and geographically close to Japan’s outlying islands.

In November, Takaichi angered China when she told Japanese legislators that if China were to use force against Taiwan, which China regards as part of its own territory, the move would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan and could warrant a military response from Tokyo.