Japan begins early voting for Feb. 8 snap general election

ISTANBUL

Early voting for Japan’s snap general election scheduled for Feb. 8 began Wednesday at diplomatic missions worldwide and designated polling locations inside Japan, according to local media and government data.

Polling stations were set up at 233 overseas locations, including embassies and consulates, for nearly 103,000 registered voters living abroad, according to the Japanese government.

Voters inside Japan can also cast ballots in advance at designated sites if they are unable to vote on election day, Kyodo News reported.

In the previous House of Representatives election in 2024, nearly 20.95 million people voted early.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower house on Friday, triggering a snap vote in what Kyodo described as the first dissolution at the start of a regular session in 60 years.

More than 1,270 candidates are competing for 465 seats in the lower house in the first election since Takaichi took office on Oct. 21, following the end of the 26-year alliance between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito and the formation of a new coalition with the Japan Innovation Party.

A party or coalition needs at least 233 seats to elect a prime minister.

Japan’s opposition has regrouped ahead of the election, with the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito joining forces to form the Centrist Reform Alliance, now the largest challenger to the ruling bloc.

Under Japan’s electoral system, voters cast two ballots -- one for a candidate in their single-member district and one for a political party under proportional representation.

The election will be held across 289 constituencies, while the remaining 176 seats will be allocated across 11 proportional representation blocs.