Opposition Parties Criticize LDP-JIP Policy Agreement as ‘Equivocal,’ Plan to Confront New Coalition

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:06 JST, October 21, 2025

Following Monday’s announcement that the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party would form a coalition, voices expressing disappointment emerged from opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which was aiming for a change in government.

Opposition parties now intend to confront the newly formed coalition over the policies agreed to by the LDP and JIP.

“We lost a tug of war against the LDP,” said CDPJ President Yoshihiko Noda on Monday at the party’s headquarters, lamenting the JIP flipping to the ruling bloc. The CDPJ had been in discussions with the JIP over fielding a joint candidate supported by opposition parties in the election for prime minister.

Democratic Party for the People President Yuichiro Tamaki, who once expressed his intention to become a candidate for prime minister, said, “We, as an opposition party, reaffirmed that it is essential to keep putting pressure on the government.”

The CDPJ has signaled its intention to coordinate with the DPFP and Komeito to confront the newly formed government.

Predicting that the LDP would shift rightward in the newly formed coalition, Noda said, “An environment has been created in which we can show ourselves to be a pillar of opposition against the LDP-JIP coalition government,” adding, “We hope to maintain a middle-of-the-road approach.”

Regarding the policy agreement reached between the LDP and JIP, opposition parties criticized the way certain policies are stipulated, including a ban on corporate and organizational donations to political parties and a reduction in the number of seats in the Diet, calling it “equivocal.”

Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito, who decided to leave the coalition the party had been in with the LDP over Komeito’s demand to strengthen the regulation of corporate donations, criticized the agreement, saying, “It is extremely regrettable.

“It is basically the same as the answer we got from the LDP saying ‘it will be considered later.’ There is no progress in it,” he said.

Tamaki also blasted the agreement saying, “Abolishing the provisional gasoline tax rate is the only thing we can see that is clearly said, shown or decided in the agreement.”

Akira Koike, the Japanese Communist Party secretariat head, condemned it as well. “The reduction in the number of Diet members means abandoning the voices of people,” Koike said. “It is not acceptable for only a few parties to push through these policies.”

Within the LDP, a sense of relief spread because the prospect of a Sanae Takaichi cabinet became clear with the JIP joining as a coalition partner. However, the feasibility of some elements in the policy agreement with the JIP is questioned even by some LDP members.

“There will be a tough road ahead in managing Diet affairs,” an LDP executive said.