Japan opposition sees change on horizon after strong election results

TOKYO — Japan's main opposition party said strong results in the general election Sunday have made a change of government an achievable target, as smaller parties surged and the ruling coalition failed to maintain its majority in the House of Representatives.

Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told a press conference the loss of the lower house majority for the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito was a "huge achievement."

Reflecting on the significance of the result for politics in a country where the ruling party has rarely been out of power since its founding in 1955, Noda said it showed that "we now truly are on the eve of a change of government."

The LDP has seen its public support erode since the money scandal emerged in late 2023, in which some ruling party members had underreported income from fundraising events.

Noda, a former prime minister who served in the position for around a year until 2012 under the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, took the reins of the CDPJ in September.

His strategy saw the CDPJ target moderate voters with a platform urging political reform, bringing his party on course to secure at least 130 seats, up from 98 and the best lower house tally in its seven-year history. Noda told a television program that voters were "looking to see who would be best at delivering political reform."

On potential cooperation with other opposition parties, he indicated to reporters that he is interested in speaking with the smaller opposition Democratic Party for the People, saying he "would like to engage in talks in which we seek common ground."

The DPP was set to receive a significant boost in the election, with projections suggesting it could raise its seats by four times its total of seven in the previous parliament.

The party, which campaigned primarily on economic policies to raise incomes for workers, has also been widely seen as a potential third partner in the LDP-Komeito coalition.

Its leader Yuichiro Tamaki, however, ruled out allying with an LDP and Komeito coalition, telling a television program he would be willing to engage in "policy-by-policy" cooperation.

"On manifesto pledges, we're willing to work with any party, be they government or opposition," he said.

Nobuyuki Baba, head of the Japan Innovation Party, was also quick to rule out entering into a coalition with the LDP and Komeito, telling a press conference he is "absolutely not considering it" while expressing skepticism on allying with the CDPJ due to policy differences.

The night was a bruising one for his party, which is likely to lose seats.

But Baba professed to being unconcerned about the result, saying he is "proud we were able to do our part to break the coalition majority."

© KYODO