CDPJ, Komeito Agree to Form New Party in Preparation for Lower House Election (UPDATE 1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:12 JST, January 15, 2026

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito agreed on Thursday to form a new party, as they plan to cooperate in a House of Representatives election.

The agreement was reached when CDPJ President Yoshihiko Noda and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito met after the two opposition parties held intraparty discussions earlier in the day.

The new party is aimed at uniting centrist forces to counter the highly conservative administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

“We’ve agreed to fight together by forming a new party,” Noda said after meeting with Saito. “This is an opportunity to put centrist forces in the middle of [Japan’s] politics.”

The name of the new party will be decided soon. According to Noda, the two parties will work on the details next week.

“In the upcoming lower house election, we intend to campaign by emphasizing how crucial it is for Japan to expand the bloc of centrist forces,” Saito said.

On Thursday morning, Komeito’s central secretariat held a meeting in which members agreed to entrust Saito with decisions about future moves on a new party. The CDPJ held a general meeting of its Diet members later on the same day to hear their opinions.

An idea has emerged within Komeito that if a new party is formed, Komeito should withdraw from races in the single-seat constituency segment of the lower house election, including the four constituencies currently held by Saito and other Komeito lawmakers.

The new party is likely to exist only in the lower house, while both the CDPJ and Komeito are expected to remain in the House of Councillors.

At a meeting of the CDPJ’s standing executive committee on Tuesday, Noda obtained a mandate from the party to decide its future moves. He explained plans for the new party during the general meeting of CDPJ lawmakers at the Diet Building on Thursday afternoon.

The CDPJ had already presented Komeito with a proposal for cooperation using a unified list of candidates in the lower election’s proportional representation segment.

CDPJ Secretary General Jun Azumi said at the party’s headquarters, “We want to coordinate our response in step [with Komeito].”

Noda and Saito had agreed on Monday to explore ways for cooperation at a “higher level,” and the two parties have been making arrangements since then.