2026 POLLS: LDP Relying on PM, Centrist Party on Organized Support

Tokyo, Jan. 23 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is banking on the personal popularity of its leader, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, for the Feb. 8 election for the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Centrist Reform Alliance, a new party formed by two opposition forces–the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito–is seeking to utilize the parent parties’ organized support to take on the ruling bloc in the race that comes after the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, was dissolved Friday. The Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, both opposition parties, hope to woo voters dissatisfied with the two major parties to make significant gains, as they did in last summer’s election for the House of Councillors, the upper Diet chamber. Photographs of Takaichi “I hope to receive a mandate for the policy shifts and move forward with strength,” Takaichi told reporters at the prime minister’s office Friday, referring to her “responsible and proactive” fiscal policy. The LDP’s strategy for the general election calls for putting the highly popular prime minister front-and-center in its campaign, as the party’s support rate is low compared with the Takaichi cabinet’s approval rating. “We can win with the prime minister as the face of (our party) in the election,” a party official said. A former cabinet minister who failed to win a seat in the previous Lower House election and is contesting the upcoming race voiced hope that Takaichi would come and give support during the campaign period, after receiving a certificate of the LDP’s endorsement from her at party headquarters. The LDP’s reliance on the prime minister is evident through the use of many photographs of Takaichi in a book of the party’s policy pledges for the Lower House poll. In last summer’s Upper House election, a photograph of then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose cabinet was unpopular with the public, was used only on the front cover of the pledge book for the race. But the latest book contains photos of Takaichi on many of its pages, and a party source said that the prime minister gave instructions on which pictures to use. The late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who led the LDP to a victory in many national elections and was a mentor of Takaichi, was also featured prominently in the party’s pledge books at the time. The decision to feature many pictures of Takaichi apparently reflected the advice of Takaya Imai, special adviser to the cabinet, who supported the Abe administration. The LDP’s new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, is also seeking to capitalize on Takaichi’s popularity. JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura is preparing to stump with the prime minister in constituencies in the Kansai western Japan region, the home turf of his party, in which LDP and JIP candidates are not competing against each other. Takaichi attended a meeting of JIP lawmakers Friday and highlighted the solidarity of the LDP-JIP partnership, saying, “Let us promote our reforms.” A Show of Unity The Centrist Reform Alliance’s co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, sat alongside each other in Friday’s plenary meeting of the Lower House and saw with stern faces the chamber dissolved for the general election. Noda and Saito then took to the street in Tokyo together. Noda slammed the prime minister for failing to take measures to combat inflation, while Saito said that the dissolution has no justification and that a political vacuum should not be created. In the upcoming poll, the Centrist Reform Alliance, now the biggest opposition party, expects to rely on support from labor unions that back the CDP and lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai, the main supporter of Komeito, the LDP’s former coalition partner. But the CDP and Komeito had fiercely fought against each other over key policies until last year, and a senior LDP official said, “It will take time for the different organizations to become one.” The new party plans to place former Komeito lawmakers who used to be elected from constituencies high on its proportional representation list. This has spurred concerns within the CDP side about how seriously the new party will support constituency-seat candidates originally from the CDP in the election campaigning. Following the Lower House dissolution, a middle-ranking Centrist Reform Alliance member from the CDP rushed home for a meeting with the local Komeito branch. “All we can do is display unity as we move forward,” the member said. Unique Approaches With the general election increasingly seen as a head-to-head battle between the ruling bloc and the Centrist Reform Alliance, smaller opposition parties such as the DPFP and Sanseito are hoping to increase support through unique policy approaches. “We are the original party advocating proactive fiscal policy,” DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki told reporters Friday, seeking to differentiate the party from the prime minister and her responsible and proactive fiscal policy. But a party source expressed a sense of crisis, saying, “We may be buried between the prime minister and the Centrist Reform Alliance.” Meanwhile, Sanseito is set to compete with the ruling bloc for the votes of conservatives and plans to field candidates across the country. Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya said at a press conference that the party will fight the election head-on. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]