TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept to a resounding victory in a snap election on Sunday and immediately vowed to “deal firmly” with threats from North Korea that dominated the campaign.

Abe’s conservative coalition was on track to win 311 seats in the 465-seat parliament, according to a projection from private broadcaster TBS, putting the nationalist premier on course to become Japan’s longest-serving leader.

The resounding election win is likely to stiffen Abe’s resolve to tackle North Korea’s nuclear threat, as the key US regional ally seeks to exert maximum pressure on Pyongyang after it fired two missiles over Japan in the space of a month.

“As I promised in the election, my imminent task is to firmly deal with North Korea,” Abe said. “For that, strong diplomacy is required,” he stressed.

Abe was heading for a “landslide win”, the top-selling Yomiuri daily said on its website, as the premier’s gamble to hold a snap election appeared to be paying off.

But it was unclear in the immediate aftermath of the vote whether his coalition would retain its two-thirds “supermajority,” requiring 310 seats, as some media organisations had it falling just short.

A “supermajority” would allow Abe to propose changes to pacifist Japan’s US-imposed constitution that forces it to renounce war and effectively limits its military to a self-defence role.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017