TOKYO — Japan’s fragmented political opposition sank into deeper disarray on Sept 9 as its main party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, announced it would disband following a failed effort to counter Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s highly popular administration.
Party chief Junya Ogawa told a press conference the alliance would terminate its activities and dissolve once outstanding payments were settled, ending an eight-month attempt to create an effective political counterweight to Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The Centrist party was formed hastily in January by merging two major opposition groups, the Komeito, the LDP’s former coalition partner, and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, to build a stronger, unified movement against Takaichi.
The new party suffered a crushing defeat in February’s general election, securing only 49 seats in the 465-seat Lower House and unseating more than 100 of its own incumbents seeking re-election, while the LDP added more than 100 seats to win 316 in total. Some Centrist members are expected to return to their old parties or form new ones, though they plan to maintain a Lower-House caucus to continue pushing for a viable alternative to the LDP, Ogawa said.
Pacifist Komeito, backed by a lay Buddhist organisation, ended its 26-year coalition with the LDP in October 2025, saying its partner had refused to strengthen regulations on political donations in the wake of a fundraising scandal.