Japan’s LDP Warns Against Slacking During Lower House Campaign After Yomiuri Poll Suggests Single-Party Majority

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:45 JST, January 30, 2026

The Liberal Democratic Party issued an emergency notice to members on Thursday aimed at closing ranks after a Yomiuri Shimbun survey on the House of Representatives election suggested the LDP was gaining momentum and seemed within reach of the 233 seats needed for a single-party majority.

The Centrist Reform Alliance, newly formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, appears to be struggling to expand its support and is rushing to increase its name recognition.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who also serves as president of the LDP, spoke the same day in front of JR Himeji Station in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, to appeal for support, saying, “We’re still in the early stages, and the situation is extremely tough.” The LDP is on guard against slacking within its ranks. The emergency notice jointly issued under LDP Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki and Keiji Furuya, chairman of the party’s election strategy committee, stressed that “without fighting to win even one more vote, victory cannot be expected.”

The Japan Innovation Party has failed to gain traction outside its base in Osaka. To shore up support for the party’s campaign, JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura traveled to neighboring Hyogo. He held a speech near the same station where Takaichi spoke and he acknowledged that “this election will be extremely difficult,” while arguing that “the JIP will serve as the accelerator for the government.”

The CRA, which just held its founding convention on Jan. 22, has gotten off to a sluggish start, in part due to low name recognition. CRA coleader Tetsuo Saito spoke in Kitakyushu with fellow coleader Yoshihiko Noda and told voters: “We’re a newborn — unable even to hold our head up, let alone toddle. Please help us grow.”

It was the first joint street speech by the two men since the official campaign period began. Afterward, Noda told reporters, “In key districts where the race is close, it’s more effective for the two of us to take the microphone together.” The party is also focusing on strengthening its organization, and Saito, former chief of Komeito, has been calling senior officials in the party’s local organizations to ask them to help spread the CRA’s name.

The Democratic Party for the People has been reported as holding steady since before the campaign officially started. Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of the DPFP, delivered a street speech in Kyoto City, raising his voice as he said, “Unless we become bigger and stronger, take-home pay will not increase.” After the speech, he told reporters: “We’re still in the early stage. The real battle starts now.”