November 27, 2025
TOKYO – Opposition parties are preparing in case the highly popular Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolves the House of Representatives and calls a general election.
Some opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, are trying to forge an alliance, though no detailed plan seems forthcoming.
CDPJ Secretary General Jun Azumi told reporters Tuesday, “We want a structure where voters can choose our candidates as a viable alternative [to ruling bloc candidates] in single-seat constituencies.”
His comment implies the party is willing to work with other opposition parties to narrow down their candidates to one person per district.
CDPJ President Yoshihiko Noda has said Takaichi “may consider an early dissolution,” and Azumi instructed the party to move quickly to field a candidate in every district. As the party wants to be the largest in the Diet, it has set a target of fielding at least around 200 candidates, but it only has plans to endorse 171 candidates so far.
Even if the target is met, it would still fall short of the lower house majority of 233 seats. The CDPJ is also considering forming a “centrist government” with the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito.
Some progress has been made to this end. The Fukuoka prefectural chapters of the CDPJ and the DPFP as well as Rengo Fukuoka — a prefectural branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) — agreed to back a single candidate in all eight constituencies in the prefecture.
DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki, however, told reporters Tuesday that “the party’s headquarters will make the final strategic decisions on where and how many candidates to field,” implying the Fukuoka chapter might be overruled.
Bolstered by its strong showing in the last House of Councillors election, the DPFP seems eager to field its own candidates.
The party aims to field 100 candidates and win 51 seats. It plans to field at least one candidate in every prefecture, and Tamaki is looking to campaign nationwide.
Komeito, meanwhile, has reworked its strategy after leaving its coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party. It plans to field fewer candidates in constituencies and focus on the proportional representation race. It is also exploring the possibility of teaming up with the CDPJ and the DPFP, as well as their supporter Rengo.
If possible, however, Komeito would like to avoid a lower house election for the time being, with Secretary General Makoto Nishida telling reporters, “Now is not the time to create a political vacuum.”