Shinzo Abe led the Liberal Democratic Party to victory in the December 2012 general election after several years in the opposition.

In campaigning to win control of the House of Councillors, Abe sought to resolve the "twisted parliament" problem for the next three years.

[2] Just prior to the election, the U.S. dollar fell against the yen on expectations of more momentum for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive monetary easing to fight deflation and boost growth for the export-dominant economy of Japan.

[3] Abe's LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, were tipped to win a majority and end years of parliamentary stalemate so as to enable economic reforms.

Differences between party and parliamentary group membership in the post-election opening session: Two independents caucus with the NRP, President Masaaki Yamazaki (LDP – Fukui), Vice-President Azuma Koshiishi (DPJ – Yamanashi) and Keiko Itokazu (OSMP – Okinawa) are independents in terms of parliamentary group.