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Resounding Victory for Abe

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves to the audience following his speech during an election campaign in Tokyo.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves to the audience following his speech during an election campaign in Tokyo.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept to a resounding victory in a snap election on Sunday, winning a mandate to harden his already hawkish stance on North Korea and reenergize the world's number-three economy. Abe's conservative coalition was on track to win 311 seats in the 465-seat parliament, according to a projection published by private broadcaster TBS, putting the blue-blooded nationalist on course to become Japan's longest-serving leader, AFP reported.

The comfortable election win is likely to stiffen Abe's resolve to tackle North Korea's nuclear threat, as the key US regional ally seeks to exert maximum pressure on Pyongyang after it fired two missiles over Japan in the space of a month.

Abe was heading for a "landslide win", the top-selling Yomiuri daily said on its website, as the premier's gamble to hold a snap election appeared to be paying off. Millions of Japanese braved torrential rain and driving winds to vote, as a typhoon bears down on the country, with many heeding warnings to cast their ballots early. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party benefited from a weak and splintered opposition, with the two main parties facing him created only a matter of weeks ago. The short 12-day campaign was dominated by the economy and the global crisis over North Korea, which has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea and has traded barbs with US President Donald Trump.

Nationalist Abe stuck to a hardline stance throughout, stressing that Japan "would not waver" in the face of an increasingly belligerent regime in Pyongyang.

 

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