LDP looks set to secure 316 seats in Japan's 500-member house, marking its best result since its founding in 1955. Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has promised to cut taxes and keep her cabinet intact as she celebrated her Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide victory in Sunday's general election. Takaichi's pledge on Monday came as projections by the NHK broadcaster showed the conservative LDP securing 316 seats in the 500-member National Assembly and winning a historic two-thirds majority in the lower house.
TOKYO Japan's former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who was known for his 1995 "Murayama statement" apologizing to Asian victims of his country's aggression, died Friday. He was 101. Murayama died at a hospital in his hometown Oita, southwestern Japan, according to a statement by Mizuho Fukushima, the head of Japan's Social Democratic Party. As head of what was then known as the Japan Socialist Party, Murayama led a coalition government from June 1994 to January 1996.
Opinion polls indicate that Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito may not secure the 50 seats required to maintain control in the Upper House elections, raising concerns over Prime Minister Ishiba's political fate and stability within Japan.
