Sanae Takaichi stands up after being reelected Japan's prime minister at the House of Representatives on Wednesday. — KYODO/VNA Photo

TOKYO — Sanae Takaichi was formally reelected as Japan's prime minister in parliament on Wednesday as the Diet convened a special session following her Liberal Democratic Party historic landslide victory in the February 8 House of Representatives election.

Before the start of the 150-day session, Takaichi's Cabinet resigned en masse, as required by the Constitution. She is set to form a new Cabinet later in the day, though no major changes are expected for the sake of continuity.

Takaichi, known for her hawkish views on defense and security, received overwhelming majority support with 354 votes in the lower house, controlled by her ruling coalition.

In the House of Councillors, where the ruling camp remains a minority, she was elected prime minister in a runoff vote by winning 125 against 65 for her rival and opposition leader.

All her ministers, including Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, are expected to retain the posts they held in Takaichi's first Cabinet formed after she became LDP leader and subsequently prime minister in October.

In a minor change to its party executive lineup, the LDP is considering naming former industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who was involved in a high-profile slush fund scandal, as its new election strategy headquarters chief, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Takaichi is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday night to explain her "responsible yet aggressive" fiscal policy and plan to suspend the consumption tax on food products for two years.

The powerful lower house elected Eisuke Mori, a veteran LDP lawmaker and former justice minister, as its speaker and Keiichi Ishii, a member of the chamber's main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, as vice speaker.

Ishii is a former leader of the Komeito party, which established the CRA last month with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan for their lower house members. In October, Komeito ended its 26-year partnership with the LDP, which then formed a new ruling coalition with the Japan Innovation Party later that month.

In the general election, the conservative LDP gained a record 316 of the 465 seats in the lower house, up from 198 before the contest, the first time a single party has secured a supermajority in the postwar era.

Takaichi called a snap election by dissolving the chamber at the outset of this year's ordinary Diet session on Jan. 23 in a bid to capitalise on high support ratings for her Cabinet and improve the LDP-JIP camp's standing in the lower house.

The centre-right JIP, known as Nippon Ishin, gained 36 seats, up from 34 prior to the election.

Since the regular parliamentary session, which lasts 150 days and can be extended, ended in just one day, the Diet will convene the 150-day special session from Wednesday through July 17, with deliberations expected to initially focus on a draft initial budget for fiscal 2026 starting April.

The lower house can overrule the upper house to push through bills with the support of two-thirds of lawmakers. In the upper chamber, the ruling bloc remains in a minority after the LDP's setback in the July 2025 election under Takaichi's predecessor Shigeru Ishiba.

The lower house election gave a boost to Takaichi and her party toward delivering on their policies, including her expansionary fiscal measures.

The joint leaders of the CRA stepped down after it secured only 49 seats in the lower house contest, less than a third of the 167 it held prior to the election, with Junya Ogawa chosen as new leader last week to embark on a revamp and generational shift of the party. — KYODO