Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi Eyes Feb. 8 for General Election Vote; Temporary Budget May Be Needed as Fiscal Year Begins

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:28 JST, January 14, 2026

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering Feb. 8 as the voting date for the next general election if she takes the step of dissolving the House of Representatives at the beginning of the upcoming ordinary Diet session, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The prime minister, members of her administration and the Liberal Democratic Party seem to be coordinating the schedule of the expected general election so that official election campaigning will begin on Jan. 27 and the voting date will be Feb. 8.

Takaichi conveyed her intention to dissolve the lower house in the early stages of the Diet session at a meeting with ruling party executives on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by LDP Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki and Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the junior coalition partner Japan Innovation Party, and others at the Prime Minister’s Office on the day.

According to Yoshimura, Takaichi also indicated that she would personally announce the details, such as the timing and reasons for the dissolution, on Monday. “Prime Minister Takaichi informed us that the lower house will be dissolved at the early stages of the ordinary Diet session. Our party will proceed with preparations [for it],” said Yoshimura.

After meeting with Takaichi, Suzuki told reporters that Takaichi told him about her intention to “dissolve the lower house at the early stages of the upcoming ordinary Diet session.”

“As for the LDP, we will have to accelerate preparations for the election to get ready,” he said.

On Tuesday, the government decided to convene the ordinary Diet session on Jan. 23 at a round-robin Cabinet meeting, in which Cabinet decisions are made by circulating a document to each minister for signing.

If the lower house dissolution takes place on Jan. 23 and the election voting is set for Feb. 8, the period between them will be 16 days, the shortest since the end of World War II.

It seems that Takaichi wants short interval the period between the dissolution and the voting date to minimize the negative impact on Diet deliberations after the election for the compilation of the fiscal 2026 government budget.

Prior to the round-robin Cabinet meeting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told directors of the rules and administration committees of both the lower house and the House of Councillors that the ordinary Diet session will convene Jan. 23.

When opposition party members asked him about the expected dissolution of the lower house at the rules and administration committee of the lower house, he replied, “Because dissolving the lower house is the prime minister’s exclusive decision, I refrain from answering the question in the capacity of my position.”

It has been the usual practice that when the government announces the date for convening a Diet session at a meeting of directors of the lower house rules and administration committee, the ruling party side also proposes the dates of four key government speeches, including the prime minister’s policy speech.

But such a proposal was not made at Tuesday’s meeting.

Takaichi has vowed to pass a bill for the fiscal 2026 government budget as soon as possible, mainly for the sake of implementing measures to cope with rising prices.

If the general election is held, it is likely that passage of the budget bill will be after March 31, the end of this fiscal year. But the prime minister seems to be planning to handle the matter by compiling a temporary budget.

Many politicians have made remarks and moves apparently premised on the assumption that Takaichi will dissolve the lower house at the beginning of the upcoming Diet session.

Yoshimura told reporters on Tuesday that the JIP’s goal in the general election is the ruling bloc gaining a majority.

Yoshimura reiterated his denial that the JIP will adjust its slate of candidates to avoid clashing with the LDP in constituencies, saying, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Going forward, it is likely that prefectural election administration commissions across the nation and other authorities will accelerate preparations for the general election assuming that the voting date will be Feb. 8.

But it is possible that the voting date may be delayed depending on how the preparations progress.