By Elaine Lies

TOKYO, Reuters – Fumio, the Japanese Prime Minister, prepared Monday to address major policy issues, including trying pass an additional budget. He won unexpectedly high elections to cement his position in a fractious party.

Stocks rose to an all-time high of one month on relief that the Liberal Democratic Party held onto its single party majority in disobedience of predictions. However, it lost a few seats including Akira Amari, who was also secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party.

These results will likely empower Kishida who is only at power for a month, with very few policy achievements, and can now put his stamp on office in advance of the next upper house elections.

Kishida was a gentle former banker but has yet to make his mark on the premiership.

He promised also to tackle wealth inequality.

The overall trend favors stability. Tobias Harris (senior fellow at The Center for American Progress) stated that the LDP had cleared all hurdles.

He stated, “We’ll be seeing a lot more stimulus.”

Japanese shares rose on Monday as investors hoped for stability and increased government spending.

STABLE MAJORITY

Initial exit polls showed that the LDP might have to depend on Komeito as a junior coalition partner to maintain a majority. However, the conservative party, which has been in power since 1955, won a strong majority by itself.

LDP took 261 seats compared with 276 before the election. It was an absolute stable majority which gives it control over parliamentary committees.

If Kishida’s performance was poor, it would raise expectations that he could become another premier short-term in place of Yoshihide Sug, Japan’s longest-serving premier who died last year from complications.

The party took some significant hits including Amari’s loss in his single-seat District. Amari was a former minister of economy and leader one of the factions. He lost to Nobuteru Shihara in the western Tokyo District.

Analysts suggested that the demise of such long-standing figures could be interpreted as a sign of a new generation in the LDP. This is in stark contrast to recent victories by younger legislators like Shinjiro Kojimi and Taro Kono.

Kenneth McElwain from the University of Tokyo, said that “if we’re now in a post COVID (era), the question then is what new policies Japan needs to confront, not just over the next year, but for the long-term.”

According to media reports, Amari will resign from his post as party leader, but no information was available on the immediate future of a potential successor. This could impact policy and Kishida’s goals, especially in attempting to raise an additional budget for this year within a strict schedule.