Kishida Says Not Mulling Snap Poll After LDP Wins Four Seats In Parliamentary By-Elections

Kyodo News Agency reports that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that he is not thinking about dissolving the lower house and calling a snap election after his Liberal Democratic Party won in four out of five parliamentary by-elections held over the weekend.

• Japan's ruling party claimed three lower house seats and one upper house seat in the by-elections held on Sunday, with the remaining lower house seat going to the Nippon Ishin no Kai party. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was defeated in all three constituencies in which it fielded candidates.
• The result means that the LDP has increased its control over the contested constituencies to four seats from three, which prompted local analysts to speculate whether Prime Minister Kishida might try to call a snap parliamentary election and convert this tailwind into a larger electoral victory.
• A steady recovery in support for the ruling administrations fanned speculation that an early election might be inbound. The latest opinion poll for Sankei/FNN showed that the Cabinet's approval rating increased by 4.8pp to 50.7%, exceeding the disapproval rate (44.7%) for the first time in eight months.
• However, Kishida denied planning to call a snap election this morning. In a post-election piece circulated today, Yomiuri noted that some LDP candidates were forced into tight races with their rivals, which reduces the odds of an early poll.