Tokyo, 27 May, /AJMEDIA/
The Komeito party, the junior coalition partner of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has conveyed its decision not to recommend LDP candidates in single-seat districts in Tokyo in the next lower house election, lawmakers said Thursday.
The move by Komeito, which has been part of the coalition government for decades, reflects its frustration with the LDP’s unfavorable response to the junior ruling party’s eagerness to field its own candidate in the newly established 28th district of Tokyo.
Moreover, Komeito has also decided not to cooperate with the LDP in the next Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election in 2025, party sources said, with some pundits saying the conflict could dissolve their coalition partnership in the worst-case scenario.
The LDP and Komeito have discussed how to deal with the House of Representatives electoral reform aimed at narrowing the vote disparity between densely and sparsely populated constituencies, enacted late last year, amid speculation that the lower house may be dissolved soon.
The revision will add 10 single-seat electoral districts to five prefectures, including Tokyo, while cutting one from each of the 10 prefectures, intensifying debate between the two parties regarding candidate placement in the next general election.
On Thursday, Keiichi Ishii, secretary general of Komeito, held talks with his LDP counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi to convey his party’s decisions. As requested by the LDP, the two parties will discuss the issue again on Tuesday, lawmakers said.
Later Thursday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads the LDP, told reporters that his government is keen to “address crucial challenges that cannot be postponed based on a strong coalition foundation” between his party and Komeito.
