TOKYO — Japan’s long-governing Liberal Democratic Party suffered a defeat in parliamentary elections Sunday that saw new right-wing populist groups make gains, heralding what could be a tectonic shift in what has been one of the world’s most stable democracies.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to stay on after his Liberal Democrats and their coalition partner lost 19 of their 66 seats that were up for reelection, depriving them of control of the less powerful upper house. But he is facing calls to step down after the setback left the Liberal Democrats, who have led Japan for all but five of the past 70 years, a minority party in both chambers of the Diet, the country’s parliament.
Ishiba and his party failed to convince enough voters that they could resolve a host of challenges that included rising prices of staples like rice, tariff talks with the United States and the growing burden that supporting Japan’s aging population has placed on working-age people.
The election results exposed a growing generational fissure that is altering the nation’s politics. While two-thirds of the 124 seats up for grabs Sunday went to opposition parties, the biggest gains were made not by the traditional liberal opposition, but by a gaggle of new parties that drew younger voters with stridently nationalist messages. Among them was Sanseito, a populist party led by a politician inspired by President Donald Trump.
“With the LDP in decline, Japan’s political landscape is diversifying,” said Romeo Marcantuoni, a doctoral candidate at Waseda University in Tokyo who has written about Sanseito. “For the first time, we’re seeing far-right populism similar to what we’ve seen in Europe.”
On Sunday, half of the upper chamber’s 248 seats were up for reelection. The biggest winners were two new nationalist parties, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito. The Democrats gained 13 seats, more than doubling their total presence in the upper house to 22. Sanseito, a newer and more extreme party, also won 13 seats, bringing their total to 15.
Both parties won over younger voters with populist appeals to strengthen the military and cut a consumption tax that has paid for pensions and other costs to support Japan’s growing population of retirees.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. This article was written by Martin Fackler, Hisako Ueno and Kiuko Notoya. Photo of Sohei Kamiya courtesy of Ko Sasaki of the NYT.
