LDP May Lose Many Constituencies after CDP, Komeito Join Forces

Tokyo, Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)–The ruling Liberal Democratic Party may lose many single-seat constituencies for the House of Representatives, as the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, the LDP’s former coalition partner, are set to jointly form a new party, a Jiji Press analysis showed. Komeito is believed to control around 10,000-20,000 votes in each constituency. If the number of votes for the LDP candidate in each constituency had been 10,000 fewer than the actual total in the 2024 Lower House election, the number of constituencies won by the LDP would have been 26 fewer than the 132 constituencies it actually won. Furthermore, if 10,000 votes had shifted from the winning LDP candidate to the runner-up CDP candidate in each constituency, the results would have been reversed in 35 constituencies, giving the LDP 97 constituency seats and the CDP 139 seats. However, it is unclear how much the formation of the new party would shake up the election, as some LDP and Komeito members maintain cooperation at the regional level. LDP members who would have lost to their CDP competitors under this scenario include party election chief Keiji Furuya, regional revitalization minister Hitoshi Kikawada, digital affairs minister Hisashi Matsumoto, National Public Safety Commission Chairman Jiro Akama and Environment Minister Hirotaka Ishihara. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]