Komeito’s Local Branches Bewildered after Break with LDP That Threatens Party’s Influence

By Tatsuki Matsuoka and Mari Kashiwagi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

14:51 JST, October 20, 2025

Komeito’s decision to end its coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party has caused bewilderment in the party’s branches. While Komeito members are relieved that the party is distancing itself from the LDP, which has failed to resolve its “politics and money” issue, its local branches will have a difficult time asserting themselves and realizing their policies without cooperation from the larger party. Given the circumstances, Komeito is carefully watching the LDP’s next moves.

Clean politics

“We have received many comments from supporters locally that we made a good decision and that they feel relieved,” Ryuji Satomi, a House of Councillors member and the head of Komeito’s Aichi prefectural headquarters, told reporters after a meeting of the prefectural headquarters in Nagoya on Saturday. He said that the decision to end the coalition was endorsed by a large number of supporters.

Since Komeito has heavily stressed “clean politics,” it is difficult for them to overlook the politics and money issue embroiling the LDP, an issue that has also frustrated members of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, a key Komeito supporter. At a national meeting of Komeito’s prefectural representatives on Oct. 9, many said the party should not compromise and encouraged party leader Tetsuo Saito and other party executives who were inclined to break with the LDP. “It’s a reasonable decision,” said a member of the Akita prefectural branch, while a member of the Fukushima prefectural branch was even more effusive: “Our voices have been heard.” A member of the Nagano prefectural branch merely said, “We have no other choice.”

End to ruling bloc perks

But now that a week has passed since Komeito decided to scotch the coalition, some party members are sounding bewildered about how to handle the LDP in their regions.

Komeito and the LDP have cooperated for a quarter century, including in local assemblies. Komeito has increased its influence by leveraging the relationship to realize its policies across municipalities. There are 2,600 prefectural assembly seats nationwide and the LDP holds nearly half of them. Komeito has worked with the LDP in many prefectures and formed a coalition to support the governor.

“The most important thing for local assemblies is their relationship with the governor,” said Kunihiro Higashimura, secretary general of Komeito’s caucus in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly. He suggested that the coalition’s demise will have almost no impact on the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, but another Komeito official contradicted him, saying, “We were able to tout that we had a pipeline to the central government because we were in the coalition government.”

Komeito also benefited from cooperation with the LDP in the form of contacts with companies and economic organizations that support the LDP and posts such as land, infrastructure, tourism and transport minister, which has been of major significance for the party. “We also had a lot of say in reconstruction after earthquakes,” a Komeito lawmaker from the Tohoku region said.

“Some members in Aichi Prefecture who valued the coalition we had with the LDP are wondering what will happen to the party now,” Satomi said.

Complications at local level

When it comes to election cooperation with the LDP, confusion at Komeito’s local branches will likely only grow worse.

Saito is calling for continued cooperation with the LDP at the local level and has indicated that his party will continue to support LDP candidates based on the person, but final decisions will be left to local branches.

At a party meeting on Wednesday, one member reportedly remarked on how decisions would differ depending on the region if there were no shared standards. A local legislator in Tokyo said, “Discussions will take place in each electoral district, but it will be more difficult for us to publicly engage in activities such as making campaign speeches in support of LDP candidates.”

Things are even more complicated in districts where Komeito candidates are supported by the LDP. If the LDP fields its own candidate in Hiroshima’s No. 3 Constituency, Saito’s home district, he could face a three-way race that would also feature the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, according to a member of the Hiroshima prefectural branch. Another official in Hyogo Prefecture, where Komeito and the LDP have fielded candidates in different single-seat constituencies to avoid competition in House of Representatives elections, said the relationship with the LDP should be carefully maintained.

Hirotaka Ishikawa, an upper house member and representative of the Komeito Osaka prefectural headquarters, which fielded candidates in four single-seat constituencies last year, has indicated that the alliance with the LDP will continue in the area. However, if the LDP forms a coalition with the Japan Innovation Party, the situation will likely become even more complicated for Komeito.