Japan’s ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), chaired by new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and the Komeito Party lost its majority in the key lower house of parliament following the October 27 elections.
After counting the votes in all constituencies, the ruling bloc received a total of 215 seats out of the 233 needed for a majority. At the same time, the LDP itself received only 191 mandates, losing 67 seats in the key lower house of parliament, where, in particular, they vote for the candidacy of the prime minister.
At the same time, all opposition parties received a total of 250 seats in parliament. The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) of the country, led by former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, received the most among the opposition – 148 seats, improving its indicator by 50 mandates. The party leader stated that the goal set for these elections — to deprive the ruling bloc of the majority — has been achieved, but stressed that this is only the first step towards changing political power in the country.
At the same time, this does not mean that power will certainly pass to the opposition; the future of the Japanese government will be decided through agreements that the parties can reach among themselves. Ishiba has already stated that he is considering the possibility of expanding the ruling coalition in order to obtain the seats necessary to form his cabinet. The prime minister stressed that he is ready to negotiate with the opposition.
The leaders of small opposition parties have already stated that a coalition with the LDP is out of the question — the chairmen of these parties answered journalists’ questions in a clear manner. However, difficulties with forming a coalition government also threaten the main opposition KDP, since it has serious differences of opinion on some issues with small opposition parties.
For the first time since 2009, the ruling bloc led by the LDP failed to win more than half of the seats in the lower house of parliament following the elections, when power in the country passed to the now defunct Democratic Party of Japan for several years.