Snap elections will likely see Japan’s ruling coalition lose seats but maintain a simple majority, slowing down economic policymaking and risking an eventual ouster of its prime minister, which would impede Japan’s efforts to strengthen regional defense partnerships amid rising security threats from China and North Korea. Japanese citizens will go to the polls on Oct. 27 to elect members of the powerful lower house of Japan’s Diet in a snap general election called by new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sept. 30. In the election, all 465 seats of the House of Representatives will be up for grabs, comprising 289 seats allocated to single-member districts in first-past-the-post voting, as well as 176 seats for multiple member districts with proportional representation (party) voting. With the election, Ishiba aims to shore up his leadership legitimacy following a hotly contested, nine-way race to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and become…
