Japan opposition parties form election bloc to challenge Takaichi

A Toyota HiAce used in the 2024 Liberal Democratic Party leadership race, featuring a photo of Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and messages from supporters across Japan, is displayed at a museum in Nara on January 14, 2026. [AFP]

Two Japanese opposition parties agreed Thursday to join forces to fight Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling coalition, forming an alliance seeking to draw swing voters in anticipated snap elections.

"We have agreed to form a new party to jointly fight," said Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the largest opposition outfit, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP).

Noda told reporters that in the elections, which media reports say may be held next month, CDP would run with Komeito -- the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's former coalition partner.

The opposition parties have agreed to form a "centrist" counterforce to Takaichi's right-leaning coalition, he said.

On Wednesday, officials from Takaichi's party and its current junior partner, Japan Innovation Party, told reporters that they had been notified of the prime minister's decision to dissolve the powerful lower house for a snap vote soon after a parliamentary session begins next week.

Mikitaka Masuyama, dean of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, told AFP that "if swing voters are convinced that the Komeito-CDP bloc can be trustworthy and vote for them, the general election could be a close battle."

But, he added, "this is a scenario of low possibility."

Sadafumi Kawato, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, said that "at best, Komeito will keep its seats while the CDP will increase their seats... but not enough to overwhelm the ruling bloc."