Komeito Mentions “Existential Crisis” after Losing Upper House Seats

Jiji Press

11:34 JST, September 12, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Komeito, the junior member of Japan’s ruling coalition, on Thursday adopted an election review document recognizing its existential crisis.

Following the adoption, Komeito Secretary-General Makoto Nishida informed party leader Tetsuo Saito of his resignation, informed sources said.

Nishida, a four-term House of Councillors member, assumed the key party post in September last year and has remained in the post even after the party lost seats in the House of Representatives election last October.

In the July Upper House election, Komeito won only eight seats, the lowest figure since its founding. The document states that the party was unable to expand its support among the working generation, young people and independent voters.

Admitting a sense of rejection among voters toward establishment parties, the document notes, “The global trend toward multiparty politics has begun in earnest in Japan as well.”

As a factor behind the poor election result, it cites the party’s endorsement of candidates from its coalition partner, the Liberal Democratic Party, who were involved in a political funds scandal at the LDP.

In the document, Komeito vows to “fulfill our role as a responsible centrist reform force,” saying that reforms that merely extend conventional policy are insufficient.

The party plans to focus on efforts to appeal to young people, in light of the aging membership of its main supporter, the lay Buddhist group Soka Gakkai. Specifically, it will create a student division and consider establishing an organization to foster female and young candidates ahead of the next House of Representatives election.

“Our dialogue [with young people] on the internet has been quite insufficient,” Nishida told a press conference.

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