LDP, Nippon Ishin Reach Substantive Deal on Coalition

Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)–The leaders of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) in phone talks Monday morning effectively agreed to form a coalition government between the two parties. LDP President Sanae Takaichi and Nippon Ishin chief Hirofumi Yoshimura will sign a coalition agreement at an in-person meeting starting at 6 p.m. Monday. The agreement will make it almost certain for Takaichi, who was elected LDP president in early October, to win nomination as prime minister to succeed outgoing Shigeru Ishiba at votes by lawmakers Tuesday at an extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, set to be convened the same day. In the phone conversation, Yoshimura, also governor of the western prefecture of Osaka, informed Takaichi of Nippon Ishin’s willingness to form a coalition with the LDP and asked her to “move Japan forward together,” he said in talks with reporters at the prefectural government office. The phone call was made by Yoshimura. The coalition agreement is expected to include a policy of enacting a bill related to Nippon Ishin’s “secondary capital” initiative during next year’s ordinary Diet session. Nippon Ishin decided at an executive meeting Sunday to leave the handling of coalition-related negotiations with the LDP up to Yoshimura and other members of the opposition party’s leadership team. Before the in-person Takaichi-Yoshimura talks, Nippon Ishin lawmakers will hold a general meeting Monday afternoon, during which party co-leader Fumitake Fujita is expected to explain the outcome of the coalition talks with the LDP. For the envisioned coalition government, Takaichi has proposed offering more than one ministerial post to Nippon Ishin. But many within Nippon Ishin are pushing for an option to support the LDP from outside the cabinet, citing the need to monitor whether a policy agreement between the two parties will be put in action. In response, Takaichi plans to appoint Nippon Ishin parliamentary affairs chief Takashi Endo, who has connections with many lawmakers on both the ruling and opposition sides, as a special adviser to the prime minister if she becomes prime minister and forms her cabinet. Nippon Ishin has made 12 policy demands to the LDP, including realizing the secondary capital initiative and social security reform. Also among the demands is a cut in the number of Diet seats, which Nippon Ishin sees as an absolute condition for forming a coalition with the LDP. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]