Japan's main Opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance, collapses after eight months
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Japan's main Opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance, collapses after eight months")
Japan's main Opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance, collapses after eight months Photograph: (AFP)
Japan’s opposition faces deeper turmoil as the Centrist Reform Alliance plans to disband after a major election defeat and failed bid to challenge the LDP
Japan’s fragmented political opposition suffered another major setback on Wednesday (September 9) after its main party announced plans to disband, following an unsuccessful effort to challenge Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s highly popular administration. The Centrist Reform Alliance will cease its activities, party leader Junya Ogawa announced at a press conference, bringing an eight-month attempt to establish a strong political alternative to Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to an end.
"Once we settle outstanding payments, we will dissolve the party," he said.
The Centrist party was hastily established in January through an attempt to merge two major opposition forces and create a more unified challenge to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The groups involved were Komeito, the LDP’s former coalition partner, and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
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However, the newly formed party suffered a heavy defeat in February’s general election. It won just 49 of the 465 seats in the lower house, while more than 100 of its incumbent lawmakers lost their bids for re-election. In contrast, the LDP gained more than 100 seats, taking its total to 316 and strengthening its position in the lower house. Following the party’s collapse, some Centrist members are expected to return to their former political groups, while others could establish new parties.
Ogawa said the party’s lawmakers are nevertheless expected to form a lower-house caucus, allowing them to continue efforts to build a credible alternative to the LDP. The political upheaval also follows Komeito’s decision last October to end its 26-year coalition with the LDP. The pacifist party, which is backed by a lay Buddhist organisation, said the Liberal Democratic Party had declined to strengthen regulations governing political donations following a fundraising scandal.
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