CRA Leadership Election Will Center on Party Rebuilding; Lower House Defeat Leaves Divisions among Former CDPJ, Komeito Members

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, February 12, 2026

Friday’s leadership election for the Centrist Reform Alliance is expected to center on whether candidates can articulate a course for rebuilding the party.

Attention in this election, which was announced Thursday, will also be focused on whether harmony can be achieved within the party, which suffered a crushing defeat in Sunday’s House of Representatives election, not long after it was founded by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito. On top of that setback, some former legislators and others who joined the party from the CDPJ harbor dissatisfaction over the order of priority given to candidates in the lower house election’s proportional representation segment.

CRA coleader Yoshihiko Noda said he agreed with fellow coleader Tetsuo Saito that, in the next lower house election, they will “try in principle to maximize [candidates’] opportunities for securing a Diet seat under the proportional representation system after losing in single-seat constituencies,” in the opening address of a general meeting of the party’s lower house members Wednesday. Noda and Saito were the leaders of the CDPJ and Komeito, respectively.

Under the current lower house electoral system, candidates who lose in single-seat constituencies can still get seats through the proportional representation segment of the election. Each party decides the order of priority in which seats are to be awarded to its proportional representation candidates.

In arranging proportional representation candidates for the recent election, the CRA gave the greatest priority to 28 former members of Komeito which withdrew from races in single-seat constituencies; as a result, all 28 of these members got seats. In contrast, while former 208 CDPJ members ran in the election as CRA candidates, only seven of them won in single-seat constituencies and 14 in the proportional representation segment. The lower positions on the proportional representation list given to former CDPJ legislators meant that most of them who lost their constituency races were ultimately unable to hold onto their Diet seats.

Among these unsuccessful CDPJ candidates, there remains some resentment over the perceived over-prioritization of the former Komeito members.

Lower house member Kaname Tajima, a former CDPJ member, asked Noda at the general meeting if it should be understood that all CRA members will be treated equally as candidates for the party in the next lower house poll. Noda repeated that he and Saito had agreed to “maximize” the opportunities, indicating that the final decision will be left to the new party leadership.

By contrast, former Komeito members intend to prioritize harmony within the party.

“There is no longer any barrier between former Komeito members and former CDPJ members,” Saito said at the meeting.

In this leadership election, which will be decided through voting by 49 CRA lower house members, 28 former Komeito members have already decided to freely cast their votes without regard to former affiliation. “The most important thing is harmony within the party. It is important to elect a leader who can unite us,” lower house member Shinichi Isa told reporters after the meeting.

The leadership election will also focus on candidates’ stances toward the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. One candidate, former CDPJ secretary general Junya Ogawa, said, “I will offer new choices for all of society and the economy.” Another, former Parliamentary Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takeshi Shina, said, “I will compete on policies. I will put forward policies that will surpass those of the ruling parties.”

Given the lack of substantial cooperation among opposition parties in single-seat constituencies during the latest election, discussions also are likely to focus on finding ways to build cooperative relationships with other parties like the Democratic Party for the People, as well the question of when House of Councillors and local assembly members from the CDPJ and Komeito will join the CRA.

“I need a clear decision from the CRA leadership on whether the party will continue to function as the CRA or will split into the CDPJ and Komeito,” said a former CDPJ lawmaker who lost their lower house election.