People in Japan will head to the polls on February 8. Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae says she is seeking a stronger mandate for her coalition government. The starting gun for the snap race will fire next week, after Takaichi dissolves the Lower House this Friday. Speaking on Monday, she said her Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, are aiming for a majority.
Two opposition parties in Japan have announced the platform of the new party they have jointly formed. The Centrist Reform Alliance says it will push for policies that put top priority on people. The Centrist Reform Alliance says what is now required is the power of centrist politics to steadily push people-first policies forward by repeatedly building consensus, rather than politics that incites confrontation and deepens rifts.
Thailand’s foreign minister said his government has sent monitors to observe the general election organized by the military authorities of neighboring Myanmar. Pro-democracy groups have been excluded from taking part in the election. The international community has widely condemned the vote as a sham.