Japanese Communist Party Unable to Halt Decline in Election; ‘There was Not Enough Time for Our Message to Spread’ says JCP Chair Tomoko Tamura

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:16 JST, February 9, 2026

The Japanese Communist Party faced a tough battle in the House of Representatives election and was unable to halt its decline caused by a shrinking and aging membership base. The party lost half of the eight seats it held before the election.

During the campaign, the JCP advocated for measures to combat rising prices, including immediately reducing the consumption tax to 5% and eventually abolishing it altogether. It proposed securing the necessary funds through a temporary tax on large corporations’ internal reserves.

The JCP had previously formed an alliance with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. However, in the latest election, the JCP did not coordinate with the Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed by the CDPJ and Komeito, and fielded 158 candidates in single-seat districts. The CRA declared the security-related laws to be constitutional and endorsed the restart of nuclear power plants, causing the JCP to distance itself from the alliance.

“There was not enough time for our message to spread. As we confronted the Takaichi administration head-on, we faced a strong headwind given the Cabinet’s high approval rating in this election,” JCP chairperson Tomoko Tamura said at a press conference on Sunday evening.