Special Diet Session to Come Unusually Late after LDP Race, as Party Deals with Coalition Talks

By Kanae Araki / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

13:57 JST, October 1, 2025

In an unprecedented move, an extraordinary Diet session is expected to be convened in mid-October, more than one week after the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election on Oct. 4.

This schedule is due to the fact that a new LDP president will have to closely watch how opposition parties move, and determine how to expand the ruling bloc’s coalition.

“It’s extremely regrettable that there continues to be a political vacuum. The government must decide early next week when to convene the extraordinary Diet session,” said Hirofumi Ryu, chair of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s Diet Affairs Committee, as he met with his LDP counterpart, Tetsushi Sakamoto, in the Diet building on Tuesday.

Typically, the government informs opposition parties of the next Diet session a week ahead of time. If a decision is made next week, the Diet would be convened on Oct. 14 at the earliest. Sakamoto said he will discuss the matter with the new party president.

When the ruling bloc held a majority in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, the LDP scheduled extraordinary Diet sessions shortly after its presidential elections. Last year, the schedule was arranged beforehand, and an extraordinary session was held four days after the presidential race. A session was held five days after the leadership race in 2021 and two days after the one in 2020.

But since the ruling bloc is a minority in both houses, the LDP has yet to determine a schedule. Party officials are thinking to officially decide on the special session’s timing after appointments are made for key party posts, which could happen as early as Monday, after the presidential election on Saturday.

Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi indicated that she wanted to expand the coalition before the leadership race. However, depending on who becomes the next party president, coalition talks could take some time.

“We need a while before the extraordinary Diet session is convened,” said a senior LDP official.

But the government cannot delay for too long. The new prime minister is set to attend the 47th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and related meetings in Malaysia from Oct. 26 to 28, for their diplomatic debut.

“The new prime minister will need to give a general policy speech and hold a question-and-answer session in connection with the speech before starting diplomatic activities,” said a senior member of the LDP’s Diet Affairs Committee.