Japan Election: Japan Innovation Party Wins All Constituencies in Osaka Pref; Struggles in Constituencies Outside of Kansai Region

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:47 JST, October 28, 2024

The Japan Innovation Party, which has a strong foothold in Osaka Prefecture, won all 19 constituencies in the prefecture in the House of Representatives election Sunday, but failed to retain the 44 seats it held before the dissolution of the lower house.

Although the party won a seat in Fukuoka Constituency No. 11 and in Hiroshima Constituency No.4, it struggled in constituencies outside the Kansai region.

“I went [to constituencies] around the nation to support our candidates, but that seems to not be enough,” JIP leader Nobuyuki Baba said at a press conference Sunday evening.

Some observers believe that the party faced headwinds because of increased costs for the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, since the party has touted its success in attracting the Expo as one of its achievements. Also, the alleged workplace bullying and harassment former Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito, whom JIP had endorsed in the last gubernatorial election in 2021, might have worked against the party.

In the 2021 lower house election, the party won 41 seats, nearly four times the number it held prior to the race. Then, in the unified local elections last year, the party was seen as having made gains toward its long-held goal of being a national party after it won more than 770 posts in local governments, from municipal leaders to assembly members, surpassing the minimum of 600 posts that the party had set as its target.

During this latest election campaign, the JIP approved the candidacy of 164 candidates and for the first time fielded rival candidates against Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in six constituencies in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures. The JIP aimed to become the top opposition party and remove the ruling coalition’s majority in the lower house.

While criticizing the political funds scandals involving LDP factions, the JIP said the most pressing issue in the election was over whether the public will choose politics that asks them to shoulder the burden or “self-sacrificial reforms” that the party has been implementing in Osaka Prefecture.

In order to push JIP members to get serious about the situation, the JIP did not allow 18 of its candidates in single-seat constituencies in Osaka Prefecture to also run for the Kinki proportional representation bloc under a double candidacy, in a last ditch effort. This was not applied to Osaka Constituency No. 9 where the party fielded its candidate right before the kickoff of the election campaign.