Japan Opposition Parties Unlikely to Cooperate in PM Nomination

Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–Major opposition parties in Japan can hardly become united to pick a new prime minister, with Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People uncooperative with the opposition leader Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Eager to realize a power transition from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, CDP head Yoshihiko Noda calls on the three key opposition parties to move in step when the Diet, the country’s parliament, choses by vote the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The LDP-Komeito coalition has lost its majority in both chambers of the Diet. Noda emphasizes that he does not stick to his bid for prime minister. “Priority should be given to forming a consensus on unified action,” he said, learning lessons from his failure to consolidate votes by opposition lawmakers to win the Diet nomination for prime minister in a runoff with Ishiba last November, even on the heels of the LDP’s stunning defeat in the election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower parliamentary chamber. The Diet is expected to be called into an extraordinary session to choose the next leader of the country shortly after the LDP elects its new chief to replace Ishiba on Oct. 4. Despite Noda’s call, however, a senior Nippon Ishin member made it clear that the party will vote for its co-leader Fumitake Fujita in the upcoming Diet election for prime minister, even in a runoff if held. “The party will not benefit at all” from joining forces with the CDP, which only managed to clinch the third largest number of proportional representation votes among opposition parties in the July election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, another senior Nippon Ishin member said. The DPFP as well is negative about forming an alliance with the CDP. “Sharing the same basic policies is essential” for the two parties to back a single candidate, DPFP chief Yuichiro Tamaki stressed while pointing to different stances toward social security and nuclear power. Both Nippon Ishin and the DPFP are in the critical moment to increase their presence by fulfilling own policy pledges, as the LDP’s new leadership is expected to seek the two parties’ cooperation in expanding the scope of the ruling coalition, people familiar with the matter said. A middle-ranking member of the CDP said the party should help elect Tamaki as prime minister to attract the DPFP’s interest. But if this actually happens, “the CDP will lose liberal supporters who have been with us from the very start,” a party heavyweight warned. Although Noda declared when he became party head that he would assume the reign of government, he has not seen any clue yet, a critic said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]