Lower House Election Campaign Starts

General election of the House of Representative to fill 465 vacant seats, created by dissolution decided by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, was officially announced on January 27th. 1285 candidates with 11 parties or independent filed their candidacy to election office of the national government and embarked on their campaign. The election day is set on February 8th.

Takaichi, the president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), explained that the election would be about choosing her or someone else for the leader of Japan. Building strong and prosperous Japan is her main appeal to the voters. “Our policy has changed from the previous administration. The core policy is ‘responsible and proactive public finances,’” said Takaichi in her campaign speech.

 

The opposition parties accuse Takaichi of having a snap election to galvanize her own regime. The leader of Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), a new party established with merge of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, Yoshihiko Noda, insisted on the party’s stance of “people first,” instead of “government first.” “We are going to introduce consumption tax elimination for food by this fall, proposing financial resource for the tax cut,” said Noda.

 

The leader of Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki, criticized Takaichi of her decision of dissolving the Lower House before FY2026 budget bill passes the Diet. The chairwoman of Japan Communist Party, Tomoko Tamura, labeled Takaichi’s economic policy as “irresponsible and loose public finances.” Sanseito and Reiwa Shinsengumi empathized necessity of abolishing consumption tax.

 

The LDP, Japan Innovation Party (JIP) and Sanseito uphold conservative agenda including further building-up of Japan’s defense capability or stricter regulation on foreigners in Japan. The CRA rather promotes inclusiveness and co-existence with foreigners. Although the opposition parties demand limitation or abolition of political donation from business sectors, the LDP and JIP is reluctant to tackle this issue that caused significant setback of the LDP in recent elections.

 

The LDP and JIP does not cooperate in single seat districts in this election. Their candidates contend each other in 86 districts. Although JIP argues that this is a new shape of a leading coalition, it is possible for those candidates to lose their seats, if opposition candidates advances while LDP and JIP divide their voters.

 

The CRA separated the role in the election between former CDPJ and Komeito. Former Komeito members occupied high positions in the slate for proportional district, while it did not field any candidate in 289 single-seat districts. The CRA is too young as a party to field candidates for all single-seat districts in this election. Takaichi’s abrupt decision of a snap election did not allow the opposition parties to build a sufficient campaign strategy.

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