(Japan, 8th) Voting for the 51st Session of Japan's House of Representatives election began at 7 a.m. on the 8th (6 a.m. Malaysia time), with 1,284 candidates competing for 465 seats in the House. Whether the ruling coalition, composed of the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party, can secure more than half of the seats after the election has become the focus of public attention.
According to Xinhua News Agency, voting is scheduled to end at 8 p.m. local time that day, after which ballot counting will begin. Japan's major media are expected to release exit poll results after voting ends.
The Japanese House of Representatives election adopts a parallel electoral system that combines single-member districts and proportional representation. Of the 465 seats, 289 are from single-member districts, and 176 are from the proportional representation system. In single-member districts, voters cast ballots directly for candidates, and the one with the most votes wins; in proportional representation districts, voters vote for political parties, and seats are allocated to parties in proportion to the number of votes they receive.
According to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, prior to the election, the seat distribution was: the Liberal Democratic Party held 198 seats, the Japan Innovation Party held 34 seats, and the ruling coalition held a total of 232 seats.
Japan’s Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi has set the goal for this election as the ruling coalition winning more than half the seats. Takaichi previously stated that if the ruling coalition fails to secure a majority in the House election, she will resign immediately.
The Japanese House of Representatives was officially dissolved on January 23, with only a 16-day gap between dissolution and voting—setting a post-World War II record for the shortest interval between the dissolution of the House of Representatives and voting.
