Japan’s governing coalition loses majority, poll outcome in balance

TOKYO: Japan’s governing coalition lost parliamentary majority in a drubbing at Sunday’s election, raising uncertainty over the make-up of the next govt and the outlook for the world’s fourth-largest economy.
With all but 20 of the 465 seats accounted for, PM Shigeru Ishiba‘s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan for almost all of its post-war history, and junior coalition partner Komeito took 209 seats in the lower house of parliament, public broadcaster NHK reported. That was down from the 279 seats they held previously and marked the coalition’s worst election result since it briefly lost power in 2009. “This election has been very tough for us,” a sombre-looking Ishiba said. Komeito’s Keiichi Ishii, who took over as that party’s new chief last month, lost in his district.
The biggest winner of the night, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), had 143 seats so far, up from 98 previously, as voters punished Ishiba’s party over a funding scandal and inflation. The outcome may force parties into fractious power-sharing deals to rule, potentially ushering in instability. A party needs 233 seats for majority.
“This is not the end, but the beginning,” CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda said, adding that his party would work with other opposition parties to aim for a change of govt. Ishiba said he would wait until the final results, likely due in the early hours of Monday, before considering potential coalitions or other power-sharing deals.
The PM had called the snap poll immediately after being elected to head the party last month, hoping to win a public mandate for his premiership. His predecessor, Fumio Kishida, quit after his support fell due to anger over a cost of living crunch and the scandal involving unrecorded donations to lawmakers. The election also took place nine days before voters in the US – Japan’s closest ally – head to the polls in another unpredictable ballot.
The LDP has governed Japan for all but four years since 1955. It has held an outright majority since it returned to power in 2012 after a brief spell of opposition rule. It also lost office briefly in 1993, when a coalition of seven opposition parties formed a govt that lasted less than a year. Smaller parties, such as the Democratic Party for the People or the Japan Innovation Party, could now prove key to forming a govt. But both propose policies at odds with the LDP line.