Campaigning for the Feb. 8 Lower House election kicked off Tuesday, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi facing off against a transformed opposition as she seeks a mandate from voters.

The election comes amid a dramatic shift in the political landscape.

Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is running without backing from Komeito, its former coalition partner of 26 years, or the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), its new ally. The LDP and the JIP are also facing off against the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), a new party formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and Komeito.

Takaichi and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura gave their first stump speeches at a joint rally in front of Akihabara Station in Tokyo.

“Before a long Diet session begins, I want your mandate first,” said Takaichi. “We can’t pursue policies with strength in such unstable circumstances. So, please, let the LDP and JIP take home a majority.”

Yoshimura talked up Takaichi, while talking down opposition leaders.

“(U.S.) President (Donald) Trump, (Chinese) President Xi Jinping, (Russian) President Vladimir Putin. Who can actually go toe to toe with them? Is it (CRA co-leader Yoshihiko) Noda? Or (CRA co-leader Tetsuo) Saito? No — it’s Takaichi standing right here,” said Yoshimura, reiterating his party’s role as “Takaichi’s accelerator.”

Takaichi is betting on the ruling LDP-JIP coalition to ride on her high approval rates to a comfortable majority.

Until the dissolution on Friday, the LDP-JIP bloc held a slim majority in the Lower House, with 233 seats after three independent lawmakers from the chamber decided to join the LDP’s parliamentary caucus.

If the LDP and JIP fail to win a majority of 233 seats or more in the 465-seat lower chamber of parliament, the prime minister said she would resign “immediately.”

Public support for Takaichi’s Cabinet was 63.1% in January, down 4.4 percentage points from the previous month, according to a Kyodo News survey conducted on the weekend after the dissolution.

The opposition CRA aims to win more than 165 seats — more than its combined number of former CDP and Komeito lawmakers — to become the single largest party in the Lower House.

In his first stump speech in Aomori Prefecture, Noda criticized Takaichi’s decision to dissolve the Lower House last week, which resulted in parliament having less time to pass the ¥122.3 trillion ($792 billion) budget for fiscal 2026 before April.

Takaichi’s gambit could delay the government from introducing inflation-busting measures as planned, such as eliminating the provisional tax on gasoline from April.

“Are you going to choose politics that put everyday lives on the back burner? Or will you support the CRA, which will put your everyday lives at the heart of policies?” Noda…