Japan’s LDP Mulls Pledge to Cut Diet Seats by 10% for Anticipated General Election; Consumption Tax Exemption Always Being Considered

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:39 JST, January 18, 2026

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is mulling a pledge to reduce the number of House of Representatives seats by 10% in an anticipated lower house election, according to sources close to the party.

The LDP also plans to include a pledge to consider temporarily scrapping consumption tax on food items, the sources said.

A bill submitted to the extraordinary Diet session last year by the LDP and its coalition partner Japan Innovation Party set the target of reducing the number of Diet seats “by 10% [from the current 465 seats] to a figure not exceeding 420.” The bill also includes a provision that if a decision is not reached within a year, reductions of 25 seats in single-seat constituencies and 20 seats in the proportional representation segment would automatically be implemented.

With regard to the plan for consumption tax, an agreement that the LDP and the JIP reached wen they formed a new coalition states that the parties will “discuss the possibility of legislating a consumption tax exemption on food items for a period of two years.” Their consumption tax pledge is likely to be based on this agreement.

In Kumamoto on Saturday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said, “We will aim to realize the policies agreed on with our coalition partner.”