EXCLUSIVE: Komeito Aims to Merge with CRA before Next Diet Session

Tokyo, June 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese opposition party Komeito plans to have its members in the Diet, the country’s parliament, join the Centrist Reform Alliance before the start of an extraordinary Diet session expected for autumn, informed sources told Jiji Press. According to the sources involved in Komeito’s basic policy for a potential merger, the party plans to declare its plan to join the CRA in July and formally approve the move at a party convention by September. Following this, the 21 Komeito members in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, will leave the party and join the CRA. Komeito will ask the CRA to maintain its platform and policies and keep its name unchanged for now, as it prioritizes carrying out the merger swiftly. It will also not seek a change in the CRA’s current leadership, including chief Junya Ogawa. The CRA was formed ahead of February’s election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, bringing together Lower House members from Komeito and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. The proposed full merger of the three parties was stalled after the CRA suffered a humiliating defeat in the general election. Komeito Secretary-General Makoto Nishida has been discussing the potential merger with the CRA with members of the CRA and the CDP. He has also been in talks behind closed doors with industry-specific labor union groups that support the CRA and the CDP. Nishida is seen accelerating such coordination efforts based on the basic policy toward the end of the current Diet session on July 17. According to the basic policy, Komeito expects to announce the merger around the end of the session. Komeito lawmakers may join the CRA as early as September, as there is an idea of holding a party convention earlier than the month. Komeito has expressed opposition to a proposal to launch a new party to bring together the CRA, the CDP and Komeito, saying such a move would only take time. This proposal has been floated by the other two parties as well as labor unions. Although Komeito members in regional assemblies are seen joining the CRA in the future, they are expected to remain for now in a political organization using the name “Komei” with unified local elections set for next spring. Komeito will mull ways to provide operating funds to this organization, as it would not be eligible for government grants to political parties. Electoral cooperation in the 2028 Upper House election is a major sticking point in merger negotiations among the three parties. Komeito has said that it will lower the number of its constituency and proportional representation candidates and expressed its readiness to support candidates backed by industry-specific labor unions by securing around the same number of votes as those cast by union members. Meanwhile, Komeito has requested that it be allowed to field a certain number of party-linked candidates in constituencies with party incumbents and at least four candidates for proportional representation. “We want to make a fresh start with the extraordinary Diet session in autumn,” Nishida told a press conference Friday. However, the CDP thinks it difficult to decide whether to merge with the CRA during the current Diet session. “We can’t say we can reach a conclusion by the end of this Diet session,” CDP leader Shunichi Mizuoka told reporters in the western city of Hiroshima on Saturday. Komeito is prepared to go ahead with the merger process without the CDP if the three-party talks end in a dud. “If we are not even allowed to merge ahead (of the CDP), we will consider dissolving the CRA,” a senior Komeito member said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]