Japan’s Ruling Bloc Aims to Reclaim Key Committee Posts in Lower House

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, February 13, 2026

The landslide victory of the ruling parties in the recent House of Representatives election is expected to help them regain control of key posts in the lower house at a special Diet session convening Wednesday.

This positions the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, to seize control of Diet operations, enabling them to advance deliberations on the fiscal 2026 budget bill that they aim to pass quickly. The LDP can also discuss constitutional revisions at their own pace.

LDP lawmaker Yasukazu Hamada, who chaired a meeting to discuss post allocations among other details regarding the lower house, said Thursday that he had informed opposition parties that the ruling bloc intends to secure key committee chair positions.

Following the loss of its majority in the 2024 lower house election, the LDP ceded the Budget Committee chairmanship to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. During last year’s ordinary Diet session, opposition parties took the lead in budget deliberations on several occasions. A middle-ranking LDP official said that “regaining the Budget Committee chair would be realizing an earnest goal of the LDP.”

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi emphasized in her campaign speeches, “All the important committees are controlled by other parties [holding the committee chair].”

The dissolution of the lower house at the start of the Diet session in January put off submitting the fiscal 2026 budget bill, making its passage within this fiscal year difficult. The government and ruling parties aim to steadily advance deliberations, hoping to pass it by late April before the Golden Week holiday season.

The ruling parties also aim to regain the lower house’s Commission on the Constitution’s chairmanship to greatly advance Diet discussions on constitutional revision.

During the extraordinary Diet session last year, the ruling bloc proposed establishing a panel to draft amendment articles at the commission’s secretariat meeting, but this failed to materialize due to opposition from parties including the CDPJ, which holds the commission’s chairmanship.

After the Sunday election, the ruling bloc has secured 352 seats, far exceeding the two-thirds majority of 310 seats that is required to initiate a constitutional amendment.

“We need to rapidly advance discussions toward constitutional revision,” a senior LDP member said.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Affairs Committee will be the main forum for debate on a system allowing married couples to keep separate surnames.

A bill calling for its implementation proposed by opposition parties during last year’s ordinary Diet session lapsed but may be resubmitted during the upcoming special session. Opposition to its introduction remains strong within the LDP, particularly among conservatives.

Securing the chairmanship of the committee will help the ruling coalition take the lead in scheduling deliberation dates.