Serious Defeat of CRA

As Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi achieved a historical victory in February 8 election of House of Representatives, new leading opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), suffered from a significant setback, leaving a concern on elimination of alternative choices to a political giant, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). While its leaders announcedtheir resignation, the CRA has no hopeful perspective to raise a new chief who can build a viable bloc of the centrists.

The CRA was established on January 16th, three days before Takaichi’s announcement to dissolve the Lower House. The party consisted of members of the Lower House of the Diet, who were affiliated with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and Komeito. 165 lawmakers, 144 from CDPJ and 21 from Komeito, joined the new party leaving their original parties. It fielded 236 candidates to districts of single-seat and proportional.

 

The result was disastrous. It reduced its seats from 167 just before the election to 49, diminishing to 29 percent of pre-election size. While the party fielded candidates from CDPJ to single-seat districts, all the candidates from Komeito were on the slate of proportional districts. The lost seats were mainly in single-seat districts where the LDP marked a major advance. The CRA secured only 7 out of 289 single-seat districts. The party won 42 seats in proportional districts. All the 28 candidates from Komeito won their seats.

 

The founder of CDPJ, Yukio Edano, former foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, CRA’s co-secretary general and former finance minister, Jun Azumi, and a traditional heavyweight in opposition power, Ichiro Ozawa, lost their seats in the districts they kept for decades. They were defeated with so great margin against LDP candidates that they could not be resurrected in proportional district.

 

Co-leaders of CRA, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, had a press conference on the day after the election to announce their resignation. Noda estimated that his failure as the leader would worth tens of thousands of deaths of him. “A sense of obsoletion sticked around us,” Noda told about the reason of serious defeat. Saito hoped that their party would elect a fresh leader representing new age.

 

However, it is a big question who would succeed them. Although winners from Komeito exceeded them from CDPJ, new leader is expected to be from CDPJ which has a greater political basis among voters. Former CDPJ leader, Kenta Izumi, former CDPJ secretary general, Junya Ogawa, are possible choices for the seat. Chinami Nishimura, former CDPJ secretary general, can be an option of female leader.

 

As CRA lost their chairs in standing committees in the Lower House, it is no longer possible for them to lead discussion in the House. Although the party hopes to continue building centrist group in the Diet, no other party is interested in joining the CRA. Completing integration of two parties, which still exist in the Upper House, should be the biggest issue for the time being.

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