Japan's PM Takaichi on course for landslide victory in snap election
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Japan's governing coalition led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, is projected to have won two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives. Ms Takaichi sought and got a clear public mandate in a general election she called just four months after becoming leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Also, the Iranian Nobel peace laureate, Narges Mohammadi, has received another prison sentence - for what the court said was "collusion to commit crimes"; And we speak to one of the Epstein survivors who had a relationship with him for two years.
(Photo of Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi, who appeared at the LDP headquarters on Sunday night for the vote count. Credit: Franck Robichon/Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.4 | Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service coming live from London. |
| 0:14.7 | This is Owen Bennett Jones. |
| 0:16.0 | Well, it was Election Day in Japan, and the country's first female Prime Minister, Sanei Takahichi, called the vote. |
| 0:24.4 | She wanted enough backing to form a stable Liberal Democratic Party government, and she got it. |
| 0:30.6 | She won a very clear landslide victory. Now, the LDP is used to holding power in Japan. It's |
| 0:36.6 | been in charge almost continuously since |
| 0:39.1 | 1955. But some recent elections, 2024-20205, showed that the LDP had lost support. The question |
| 0:47.0 | today was whether she could restore the LDP to its predominant position. These two voters were outside |
| 0:53.7 | a polling station in Tokyo. |
| 0:58.8 | Takeichi has a slightly different vibe compared to what we've seen so far in the political scene. |
| 1:03.9 | So I'm feeling somewhat hopeful. That's why I voted. |
| 1:13.5 | Well, I know it's not just because she's a woman. |
| 1:17.1 | Ultimately, I really want Takaichi to do well. |
| 1:22.9 | So Shama Khalil is our Tokyo correspondent. |
| 1:24.0 | A big win. |
| 1:24.8 | Was that expected? |
| 1:31.1 | Yes, and Samai Takachi bet her leadership on this election, and it paid off. |
| 1:37.2 | She wanted to ride that wave of popularity that she's enjoyed in her just over three months in power and hope that this popularity, her persona, could turn things around for the LDP, |
| 1:43.7 | who've been tainted by financial scandals in the past |
| 1:47.2 | couple of years and that cost them their majority in the 2024 election. She was hoping that this time |
| 1:53.2 | around would be different, this time around they could win big. I was just looking at NHK, Japan's |
... |
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