Japan’s CDPJ Hedges on Joining CRA in Newly Adopted Action Plan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:06 JST, March 30, 2026

It is increasingly uncertain whether the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will join the Centrist Reform Alliance, after it failed to include in its fiscal 2026 action plan a timeline for deciding on the issue and unveiled a plan to field its own candidates in next spring’s unified local elections.

The CDPJ adopted the action plan at a party convention in Tokyo on Sunday. Initially, the plan had included the phrase “by the end of June next year” regarding when it would decide whether to join the CRA, but this has been deleted.

The CRA was formed by members of the House of Representatives from the CDPJ and Komeito just before the lower house was dissolved in January, but the new party suffered a crushing defeat at the polls.

The action plan said the CDPJ failed to fully gain the acceptance and understanding of its supporters because of differences in opinion between the party and the CRA.

It also noted that CDPJ supporters were upset by candidates who had belonged to Komeito being given priority in the lower house election’s proportional representation segment.

The plan makes clear the CDPJ will actively field its own candidates in local elections to “secure the election of as many of our colleagues as possible.”

Speaking at a press conference after Sunday’s convention, CDPJ leader Shunichi Mizuoka admitted the party had been somewhat indecisive in its direction. Whether it will join the CRA “will depend on the course of future discussions,” he said.

The CDPJ’s leadership had initially presented a draft to local lawmakers which says they would reach a conclusion on joining the CRA by June 2027, one year before the 2028 House of Councillors election. However, the draft met with opposition from those in three prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, partly because there will be more local elections after June 2027. In the action plan, therefore, leadership simply said that it “will conduct thorough internal discussions and make progress on the matter.”

“Komeito will win the unified local and upper house elections in a three-party coalition [with the CDPJ and the CRA] and take over the reins of government in the next upper house poll,” said Komeito leader Toshiko Takeya, who attended the convention as a guest. While Komeito is considering joining the CRA by the next upper house election, many in the CDPJ are deeply circumspect about doing so.

However, the CDPJ is grappling with tight finances due to the departure of its lower house members from the party. In its budget for fiscal 2026, revenue dropped by 38.6% year on year to about ¥8.2 billion. Around ¥4.1 billion of that was carried over from the preceding year.

At the convention, the party decided to cut subsidies for its prefectural chapters and the district branches of Diet members, and to slash staff salaries. It also decided to handle video production for social media within the party rather than outsourcing this.

“We even have to cut staff salaries, which is deeply embarrassing, but this is an emergency,” Mizuoka said.