Lably
Skip to content

Liberal Democratic Party–Japan Innovation Party coalition

Right-wing governing coalition in Japan

  • 13 min read
  • 3 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Mixed electoral system, Proportional representation and Electoral district

History

Formation

On 10 October 2025, Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito announced that his party would withdraw from its coalition with the LDP, over disagreements with Sanae Takaichi, who was elected LDP president in a leadership election immediately prior. Following Komeito's withdrawal, the LDP invited the Japan Innovation Party to join the coalition. The JIP was third-largest party in the Diet, and leans further to the political right than Komeito. On 15 October, Takaichi met with JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura and co-leader Fumitake Fujita. The two sides agreed to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government starting from 16 October. After the meeting, the leaders of the two parties said that there was much common ground between them on issues such as basic policies, foreign and security policies, and constitutional revision. The JIP said that, if a coalition agreement were agreed, it would support Takaichi in her bid to be nominated prime minister by the Diet. Takaichi also announced that she would establish an investigatory body for the "second capital city concept" proposed by the JIP, and said that she would invite "two or more" members of the JIP to sit in her cabinet. On 16 October, after several days of discussion, the LDP accepted the 12 policies demanded by the JIP.

On 17 October, the JIP withdrew from the coalition negotiations that were being held by the opposition Constitution Democratic Party and Democratic Party for the People. On 18 October, the LDP and the JIP agreed to form a coalition government. The JIP said that its members would not take up ministerial posts or sit in the cabinet. The two parties reached a basic agreement on the morning of 20 October. It was expected that the coalition government agreement would be signed on the afternoon of the same day. Although JIP members would not sit in cabinet, the party's Diet Affairs Committee chairman, Takashi Endo, was made an assistant to the prime minister, acting as a liaison and coordinator between the two parties. On 20 October, Takaichi and Yoshimura held a meeting of party leaders in the Diet, during which they jointly signed an agreement to form a coalition government upon Takaichi's appointment as prime minister. On 21 October, the 219th session of the Japanese Diet convened, with the primary agenda being the nomination of the prime minister. Takaichi was nominated by the House of Representatives with a majority in the first round of voting, and was subsequently nominated by the House of Councillors after two rounds of voting. Later that day, the Takaichi Cabinet was formally established upon her appointment as prime minister by Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace.

2026 general election

On 23 January 2026, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shared plans to dissolve parliament in late January and call for snap elections in early February. The coalition was a few seats short of a majority in the House of Representatives. The 2026 Japanese general election took place on 8 February 2026. In this election, the Liberal Democratic Party won 316 seats, setting a new record for the most seats won by a single party in the post-war Japanese electoral history, and also the first time since the war that a party has won more than two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives. The coalition won a total of 352 seats. Following the election, on 9 February, Takaichi asked the Japan Innovation Party to provide a minister to join the cabinet in what The Japan Times described as a "new phase of closer ties and shared responsibility between the two parties".

Sign in to keep reading

2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Politics and economics