A major electoral victory by Japan's ruling party will enable conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to expand social and defense spending, ease lingering concerns about political instability and bolster ties with the United States, though at the expense of those with China and potentially South Korea. Takaichi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 316 out of 465 seats in the Feb. 8 snap elections for the lower house of the Diet, giving it a rare supermajority and the largest seat share in its party history. When combined with its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP-led government now has 352 seats. Opposition parties, on the other hand, heavily underperformed. The main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) -- formed in recent weeks by a merger of the center-left Constitutional Democratic Party and former LDP coalition partner, the center-left Komeito -- saw its seat count drop from 167 to just 49....
