‘PUBLIC INTEGRITY’
The LDP has been haemorrhaging support as backing grows for smaller parties – including the anti-immigration Sanseito – and it is in a minority in both chambers, even with Komeito.
In the powerful Lower House, the LDP has 196 seats, the CDP 148, the DPP 27 and Komeito 24.
Takaichi needs a majority of 233 seats in her favour to be appointed by parliament, which appears difficult given the numbers.
However, experts say she could still win if opposition parties fail to agree on an alternative candidate.
Komeito party chief Tetsuo Saito said on Friday his fellow members would nominate him instead of Takaichi.
Saito also explained that the main reason for quitting the coalition was the LDP’s failure to tighten rules on the funding of political parties.
This follows a scandal within the LDP that emerged last year involving dodgy payments of millions of dollars related to ticket sales for fundraising events.
Takaichi caused particular consternation to Komeito by appointing Koichi Hagiuda, who was embroiled in the scandal, to a senior party post, reports said.
“For the Komeito party, which champions public integrity, it is difficult to explain this to its supporters and those working hard on the election campaign,” Hidehiro Yamamoto, politics and sociology professor at the University of Tsukuba, told AFP.
Despite its small size, Komeito – a party supported by the lay Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai – helped the LDP in the elections.
Around 20 per cent of LDP lawmakers are estimated to lose seats without Komeito’s help, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/japan-politics-opposition-prime-minister-sanae-takaichi-5396011
