Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has maintained a stable majority in the lower house since Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Provisional results show his party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and its coalition partner, the Komeito, have secured 293 of the 465 seats in the lower house.

Before Sunday’s election, the ruling camp had secured a total of 305 seats. At least 233 seats are needed for a majority in Japan’s lower house.

Prime Minister Kishida (file photo) became prime minister on Oct. 4. After Suga stepped down as Liberal Democratic Party president, he succeeded Suga Yoshihide as government leader.

After being appointed prime minister, Kishida announced a general election.

Kishida is seen as a supporter of Japan’s casino resort policy. In a speech to parliament on Oct. 11, Kishida said that Japan’s integrated resort (IR) policy is “an important step to push Japan into an advanced tourism country.”

Japan’s integrated resort should provide not only casinos, but also MICE and large hotels that will entertain families, and take strict gambling addiction measures, he said at the time, stressing that the government will “take the necessary steps to realize integrated resorts.”

On October 1, the Japanese government held an application period for local authorities to host casino resorts and announced the weighting to be given when making such applications.

Under the liberalization program, up to three resorts will be allowed nationwide in the first phase. Currently, only three communities are operating to hold large-scale IR events each: Osaka, Nagasaki, and Wakayama.

BY: 슬롯머신