2026 POLLS: Takaichi Appears to Avoid Lower House Seat Cut Plan

Tokyo, Feb. 3 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appears to avoid discussing the proposed reduction in the number of House of Representatives seats during the campaign for Sunday’s general election. In their campaign platforms, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, pledge to “aim to enact a bill during the next Diet session” to reduce the number of Lower House seats by 10 pct. However, Takaichi never mentioned this topic in her campaign speeches, during debates, or on X, formerly twitter, between Jan. 23, when she dissolved the Lower House for the snap election, and last Sunday. In a parliamentary debate among party leaders last November, Yoshihiko Noda, co-leader of the new opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, who was leading the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan at that time, called for a review of the rules regarding political donations from companies and other organizations. In response, Takaichi said, “Instead of that, let’s work on reducing the number of seats.” Takaichi’s apparent avoidance of the issue now is believed to reflect concerns within the LDP about the proposed Lower House seat cut, observers said. Meanwhile, the JIP is promoting the seat reduction as one of its priorities for the upcoming election, which also include lowering social insurance premiums, cutting consumption tax on food items and establishing the nation’s second capital. “Things cannot move with the LDP alone,” JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura has said. “The JIP will be the accelerator to advance policies.” On social media, the issue of reducing the number of Lower House seats has also attracted little attention. The number of posts on X about the issue, including reposts, peaked at about 300,000 on Oct. 18, before the LDP and the JIP signed their coalition agreement, but has never exceeded 10,000 since the official campaign period for the general election started, according to a survey using analytics tool Brandwatch. One post asked the prime minister, “Are you really motivated to reduce the Lower House seats?” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]