Koizumi to lead LDP-Komei coalition cabinet after New Conservative Party's merger with LDP

Suffering a serious defeat in the November 9 House of Representatives election losing its leader's Lower House seat, the New Conservative Party merged with the Liberal Democratic Party, making Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's cabinet an LDP-Komei coalition cabinet.

The November 12 issue of Akahata said this change confirms that the Komei Party is going to be an even more indispensable partner of the LDP because of the loss of the New Conservative Party. Although the New Conservative Party was a non-LDP party, it was made up of former LDP members and supported by the Japan Business Federation (JBF or Nippon Keidanren) for its pro-business position. This peculiar position gave the New Conservative Party a role as a kind of "stabilizer" in the three-party ruling coalition. Most newspapers reported that the governing coalition lost its "cushion".

To begin with, the Komei Party agreed to become a coalition partner with the LDP on condition that the LDP accept another partner that would act as a cushion between the LDP and Komei. The Komei Party had supported LDP politics as an opposition party, so if it is to become a ruling coalition partner, it argued that it would be good to have another non-LDP party in the coalition. The LDP also thought such a coalition partner would help allay public criticism of the LDP.

However, the LDP and Komei have become increasingly integrated in the four years of the coalition government.

In the Nov. 9 general election, 160 out of the 198 LDP candidates backed by the Komei Party were elected from single-seat constituencies. Overall, 67.5 percent of the 237 victorious LDP candidates were Komei-backed. Thus, the Komei Party is increasingly indispensable to the LDP's political success. (end)