Japan’s PM Kishida declares victory after ’very tough’ election

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared victory on Nov. 1 after leading his ruling coalition to a strong majority in national elections.

Kishida, a soft-spoken centrist who has been in office for a month, vowed to boost the world's third-biggest economy with a fresh pandemic spending package which he said he would draft this month.
He also said Japan would "take a leading role in working towards zero emissions in Asia", a day before he heads to Glasgow for the COP26 summit.

The long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komeito won 293 of the 465 seats in parliament's lower house, local media reported while the official result was finalised.

"It was a very tough election, but the people's will -- that they want us to create this country's future under the stable LDP-Komeito government and the Kishida administration - was shown," the prime minister said.
"We received a precious 261 seats for the LDP. As a responsible party... we will meet the public mandate."
Investors cheered the results, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index rising more than two percent after the ruling bloc limited its losses to beat exit poll predictions.

The coalition had previously held 305 seats in parliament, and the LDP 276 on its own.
Kishida took office a month ago after his predecessor Yoshihide Suga resigned just a year into the job, partly due to public discontent over his response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Japan has recorded around 18,000 virus deaths, a comparatively low toll for its population of 126 million, and has never imposed a blanket lockdown.
But many businesses, especially bars and restaurants, have suffered through prolonged periods of restrictions on commercial activity....