By Satoshi Ogawa

8:00 JST, November 16, 2024

The Japanese people punished the Liberal Democratic Party for its political funds scandals in the House of Representatives election on Oct. 27, but still allowed it to remain as the leading party. This mixed result plunges politics into absolute turmoil.

The ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito suffered a crushing defeat in the latest lower house election. The LDP lost 56 seats, falling from 247 to 191, and Komeito lost eight seats, falling from 32 to 24. Even combined, they fell short of the 233 seats needed to secure a simple majority. The coalition that had boasted an absolutely stable majority found itself reduced to a minority ruling coalition.

On the other hand, none of the opposition parties surpassed the LDP’s number of seats. Even though the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan made a leap by adding 50 seats, that got it only as far as 148, also falling far short of a majority. The Japan Innovation Party finished in third place with 38 seats and the Democratic Party for the People was fourth with 28 seats, but neither of these two parties have any intention to go along with the CDPJ as a coalition partner as they can’t close their eyes to significant gaps in fundamental policy areas such as nuclear energy and........

© The Japan News