Exit of Opposition Veterans Brings Breath of Generational Change

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:33 JST, February 14, 2026

The election of Junya Ogawa as the new leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance signals a distinct generational change.

Ogawa has indicated he intends to appoint younger talent to the party’s executive board, with the new leadership team expected to take office as early as Monday.

After Ogawa was confirmed as the new leader Friday, former coleader Tetsuo Saito voiced high expectations for the generational shift. “I hope to see the CRA grow significantly through a younger force than Mr. Noda or myself,” he told reporters.

The CRA was formed last month by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, combining their lower house members.

Executive appointments in the CDPJ have long been derided as a “merry-go-round” of the same familiar faces that ran the Democratic Party of Japan and have been seen as an obstacle to the party’s growth.

The new executive board is set to drive rejuvenation as veterans who served in cabinet and party executive roles during the DPJ years depart from the political nerve center in Nagatacho.

Katsuya Okada, who headed both the DPJ and the Democratic Party after serving as deputy prime minister and foreign minister, failed to win reelection, marking a major exit for the party’s old guard.

The wave of defeats also swept away veteran heavyweights, including former DPJ leaders Ichiro Ozawa and Banri Kaieda, as well as Yukio Edano, the CDPJ’s founder. Their departure marks a definitive end to the political lineage that traced its roots back to the DPJ.

Both Ogawa and Takeshi Shina, the two contenders to lead the CRA, are both in their 50s and represent a younger generation that never served as cabinet ministers in the DPJ administrations.

The shift has been met with approval within the CRA. “Refreshing our outdated image will be a significant plus for our future brand,” a mid-career lawmaker said, welcoming the change.