DPFP, CDP Chiefs Likely to Meet over PM Nomination

Tokyo, Oct. 13 (Jiji Press)–Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Japanese opposition Democratic Party for the People, on Monday sounded ready to hold talks with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Yoshihiko Noda over an upcoming prime minister nomination election at the Diet, the country’s parliament. Tamaki told reporters in the western Japan city of Yamaguchi that he accepts Noda’s proposal for them to meet for discussions on the possibility of opposition parties putting up a unified candidate in the election at the outset of an extraordinary Diet session expected to be convened shortly. Work is underway to open the extraordinary Diet session Oct. 20 or 21. The CDP, the country’s main opposition party, and the DPFP are considering holding a meeting of the secretaries-general of the two parties and another opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) as early as Tuesday. The envisioned Noda-Tamaki meeting may take place Wednesday at the earliest. Noda is not necessarily sticking to the idea of making himself a unified opposition candidate. While describing Tamaki as a “strong option” as the unified candidate, Noda has also mentioned the possibility of supporting Nippon Ishin co-head Fumitake Fujita. Noda has asked the DPFP and Nippon Ishin to hold leaders’ meetings. On X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Tamaki said that he has instructed DPFP Secretary-General Kazuya Shinba to hold meetings by the end of this week with his counterparts from each of Nippon Ishin, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, which ended its coalition with the LDP on Friday. “We will talk in earnest with each party,” Tamaki said. Shinba told reporters in the western Japan city of Hiroshima on Monday that he plans to meet with the secretaries-general of the LDP and Nippon Ishin as early as Tuesday. A meeting with Komeito’s secretary-general is also likely to be arranged. Tamaki said that a challenge for the DPFP is to confirm with the LDP how their agreements to revise the minimum taxable income level and scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharges should be put into action. At a news conference in the northeastern Japan city of Morioka on Monday, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said, “We aim to regain stability in politics by working mainly with parties that share basic policies,” possibly keeping the DPFP and Nippon Ishin in mind. “We are doing everything we can” to make sure that new LDP President Sanae Takaichi will be nominated prime minister, Suzuki said. “Problems will continue to occur even if parties with different policies try to work together,” he said, in an apparent warning to the CDP. Meanwhile, Komeito Secretary-General Makoto Nishida on Monday left open the possibility of cooperating with opposition parties in a possible runoff in the Diet votes to elect the new prime minister. “All options are possible,” Nishida said in a television program, asked if it is possible for Komeito to cooperate with opposition parties if they field a unified candidate for the prime minister in the runoff. Still, he said, “We have yet to make a final decision.” Asked whether Komeito would form a ruling coalition with the LDP again if the latter accepts the former’s proposal to enhance regulations on political donations from corporations and other organizations, Nishida said: “It’s almost impossible. It’s difficult for us to return (to the coalition) based on such a development.” The parliamentary votes will come after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in early September announced that he would step down, following the LDP’s major setback in the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. On Oct. 4, Takaichi was elected new LDP president to succeed Ishiba. Komeito’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition has significantly changed the balance of power in the Diet. There is a possibility of the CDP, Nippon Ishin and the DPFP defeating Takaichi in the prime minister nomination election if they act in unison in the Diet votes. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]