The result of Sunday's Lower House election was a vote of confidence in the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — by default. The opposition was more fragmented than ever, failing to put up a viable challenge to the administration and allowing the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling alliance to once again sweep a two-thirds majority of the seats contested.
Abe's snap election gamble paid off, maintaining the structure of his administration and increasing the chances of him winning a third term as LDP president next year through 2021. But the prime minister should not take the outcome as an unqualified thumbs-up for the administration by voters. As he stated while commenting on the election result, Abe should humbly manage his administration as he grapples with its policy challenges going forward.
The yet another landslide for the LDP-Komeito alliance — the fifth in a row in nationwide Diet races since Abe returned the coalition to power in 2012 — belies the sagging, though still steady, popular support for his administration, whose approval ratings were outnumbered by disapproval in most media polls taken before the election. A series of scandals that hit the administration and LDP lawmakers resulted in heavy losses for the party in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election in July.