Japanese PM Fumio Kishida gets mandate

Tokyo: Boosted by a new mandate in weekend elections, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Monday with the U.S.'s top diplomat, who delivered condolences over the death of influential former leader Shinzo Abe and reassurances of a strong bilateral alliance.

Kishida's governing Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito secured a solid majority in elections for parliament's upper, less powerful, chamber in a vote Sunday that was imbued with meaning after Abe was assassinated while campaigning Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Indonesia for a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting when Abe was shot, gave Kishida a letter from President Joe Biden to Abe's family.

We simply want them to know that we deeply feel the loss on the personal level as well, Blinken told Kishida. Mostly I'm here because the United States and Japan are more than allies we are friends.

Blinken said Abe "did more than anyone to elevate the relationship between the United States and Japan to new heights. Blinken was the the most senior U.S official to visit Japan in the aftermath of Abe's death. The wake and funeral for Japan's longest-serving political leader are expected in coming days.

Abe's death imbued new meaning in Sunday's vote, with all of Japan's political leaders emphasising the importance of free speech and defending democracy against acts of violence. It also may have generated sympathy votes, with turnout around 52%, up about 3 points from the previous 48.8% in 2019.

Kishida on Sunday had called the election extremely meaningful: Our endeavor to protect democracy continues.

The vote gave the LDP-led coalition 146 seats in the 248-seat chamber far beyond the majority and means Kishida stands to rule without interruption until a scheduled election in 2025.

That would allow him to work on long-term policies such as national security, his signature but still vague new capitalism economic policy, and his party's long-cherished goal to amend the U.S.-drafted postwar pacifist constitution.

Advancement on changing the charter is now a realistic possibility. With the help of two opposition parties supportive of a charter change, the governing bloc now has two-thirds majority in the chamber needed to propose an amendment. The governing bloc already has secured support in the lower house.