Japan’s CDPJ, Komeito Announce Joint Party Name: Centrist Reform Alliance

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:29 JST, January 16, 2026

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and Komeito announced Friday that the name of the new party they are to form together is Centrist Reform Alliance, or Chudo Kaikaku Rengo in Japanese.

As campaigning for the House of Representatives election is likely to start on Jan. 27 with voting on Feb. 8, the two opposition parties are speeding up preparations for the election, launching urgent calls for candidates.

“We’d like to gather under the principle of centrist reforms and create big waves,” CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda said on the street in Saitama on Friday morning, promoting the launch of the new party to voters. “We’d like to realize politics based on the dignity of each and every person,” he added.

The parties are hurriedly fielding candidates. On Friday, CDPJ started a three-day-only public recruitment drive for single-seat constituency candidates. The party has already unofficially decided to run 172 candidates in single-seat constituencies.

“We’d like to field at least about 200 candidates, including newcomers,” Noda said.