Japan’s Abe wins with tough N. Korea policy

He says vote shows support for military

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his ruling coalition retained a two-thirds majority in Sunday’s national elections, an outcome he said shows support for a stronger military and a hard line on North Korea.

“I think the results reflected the voters’ preference for a solid political foundation and their expectations for us to push policies forward and achieve results,” Abe told public broadcaster NHK after exit polls predicted a landslide victory.

In unofficial results, Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the ruling coalition won 312 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, exceeding a two-thirds majority at 310, and other parties had 143 seats, NHK said. Final results may not be tallied until Monday.

A two-thirds super majority gives Abe and his allies the ability to push through changes to Japan’s pacifist constitution to allow a more robust, conventional military.

Abe made his strong military stance a key point in the campaign, calling the threat from North Korea one of the two crises facing Japan, along with its rapidly aging population.

The prime minister, who has served nearly five years, called for the snap election in late September after North Korea fired its second ballistic missile over Japan in a month. Abe wants to reduce the restrictions on Japan’s Self Defense Forces. The military is constrained by the constitution imposed by the United States after World War II.

“This is an election to question how we can protect our people’s lives and good living from North Korea’s threats,” Abe said last week during a campaign rally.

Voter turnout Sunday was lower than in the last general election in 2014, in part because of Typhoon Lan.

Shinzo Abe