Japan’s Opposition Parties Komeito, DPFP Strengthen Alliance as Both Distance Themselves from LDP

By Tatsuya Tanoue and Yamato Komoda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

14:00 JST, October 17, 2025

Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People are becoming closer following Komeito’s decision to leave its coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party and the DPFP clarifying its position to not join an LDP-led coalition.

The DPFP made its decision after the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party began policy talks.

Both Komeito and the DPFP are small parties and share the same goal of advancing their policies.

“We have promised to closely cooperate with the DPFP and work together toward realizing our policies,” Komeito Chief Representative Tetsuo Saito told reporters on Thursday after meeting with DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki, signaling his intention to strengthen cooperation in such areas as political reform, tax cuts and education.

Tamaki also spoke to reporters and said they had agreed to work together on various things, including on policy issues.

During the meeting, both sides agreed to establish a joint consultative body to look into creating a government-backed fund — a key Komeito campaign pledge aimed at securing funding for policy initiatives — and to increase the budget for science and technology.

They also said they would deepen coordination on the DPFP’s proposal to raise the income threshold for tax-exempt households, known as the “annual income barrier.”

The two parties have previously worked together on political reform.

In March, they jointly drafted a bill to tighten restrictions on donations from corporations and organizations, limiting recipients of such donations to only party headquarters and prefectural chapters.

Regarding a third-party body to monitor political funds, Komeito and the DPFP are working toward putting it into practice.

Some within Komeito fear that the party’s presence will diminish now that it has left the coalition with the LDP.

For the DPFP, momentum for working with the LDP has cooled as the JIP moves ahead with negotiations toward forming a coalition with the largest party.

As a result, Komeito and the DPFP have a shared interest in maintaining their abilities to realize their policies.

At the same time, the two parties are putting pressure on the LDP and the JIP.

Since the JIP has long advocated for banning political donations from corporations and organizations, Tamaki said Thursday that “the JIP should press [the LDP] to accept the ban.”

However, realizing policies still requires LDP cooperation.

On Thursday, the policy chiefs of the LDP and DPFP met to discuss the annual income barrier, and Komeito cannot afford a full-scale confrontation with the LDP.