Japan Innovation Party Seeks to Boost Strength, Draws Criticism as ‘De-Facto Ruling Party’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:04 JST, March 2, 2025

Seeking to burnish its image ahead of the House of Councillors election in summer, the Japan Innovation Party intends to tout the policy agreement it reached with the ruling bloc as its achievement. However, it remains to be seen whether this will help the JIP expand its strength.

The JIP adopted an action plan at a party convention in Tokyo on Saturday, vowing to push the ruling coalition into a minority in the upper house election.

In his address at the meeting, JIP chief Hirofumi Yoshimura hailed the party’s substantial agreement with the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito to revise the government’s fiscal 2025 draft budget with a focus on making high school tuition free.

“The three-party agreement has paved the way for making education free of charge to a certain degree,” said Yoshimura, who concurrently serves as Osaka governor. “From now on, we will also cut into the field of social security.”

The action plan included a statement that the party will take decisive action to make education free of charge and reform social security to reduce premiums, thereby calling on the ruling bloc to steadily implement the three-party agreement.

The JIP has already decided to agree to the government’s draft budget. It will be the first time for the party to agree to an initial draft budget, which has drawn some objections. A mid-ranking member of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan criticized the move, saying, “[The JIP] has become a de-facto ruling party.”

But JIP co-leader Seiji Maehara sought understanding at the convention. “We should not yield to criticism that we have become a complementary force to the LDP and Komeito coalition,” he said. “We have made a political decision to realize our ideas.”

However, the JIP’s circumstances remain harsh. After advancing in the unified local elections in 2023, the party has been hit by a series of scandals involving local assembly members. Although the JIP aimed to become the largest opposition party in the House of Representatives election last autumn, it suffered a setback with its number of seats declining.

In December, Yoshimura, whose name is recognized throughout the country, became the party head. However, the JIP’s approval rating remained at 3% in a nationwide opinion poll by The Yomiuri Shimbun in February.

“The party is still on the verge of disappearing,” Yoshimura said in a news conference following the convention.

Aiming to bring the ruling parties to a minority in the upper house election, the JIP proposed to other opposition parties that they hold primaries to unify the opposition bloc’s candidates in 32 single-seat constituencies nationwide. However, no parties had responded by the deadline set at the end of February.

The party plans to continue arrangements with the CDPJ, but Yoshimura said, “We haven’t decided whether the CDPJ will be the only party we may work with.”

Another issue within the JIP is its in-party governance. Former party head Nobuyuki Baba had objected to the party’s draft action plan, as it did not mention constitutional revisions. As a result, the policy was added to the draft shortly before the convention.

The current party leadership has criticized the former heads, including Baba, as “leaning toward the ruling bloc,” so a gap has formed between the two sides.

“Under Yoshimura’s leadership, the party is still mired in internal disputes and isn’t gaining momentum,” said a senior party official. “If the situation remains like this, our prospects in the upper house election will be poor.”