Komeito plans to hold a convention to select a party leader to succeed Keiichi Ishii and establish new party systems following its defeat in the House of Representatives election on Sunday. The convention could take place as early as November 9.
However, there will be bumps along the way to regaining Komeito’s momentum.
In comparison to the 32 seats it held prior to the lower house’s dissolution, Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, won only 24 seats in the election. Ishii, other senior party members, and members in their mid-career, lost seats.
Ishii stated at a press conference on Monday at the Diet, “I want to indicate the direction of the party’s organizational structure, including my next course of action, before it’s too late,” indicating his intention to resign as leader shortly.
Ishii failed to win a seat in the Diet because he did not run in a proportional representation segment and lost in Saitama Constituency No. 14. Since Akihiro Ota’s defeat in the lower house election in 2009, this is the first time in 15 years that a Komeito leader has not been elected to the lower house.
According to sources, Ishii is most likely to declare his resignation at a party meeting on Thursday.
Only four of the eleven Komeito candidates for single-seat constituencies were elected, including Komeito vice chief Kazuyoshi Akaba, who was selected in Hyogo Constituency No. 2, and Tetsuo Saito, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, who was elected in Hiroshima Constituency No. 3.
All four Komeito candidates lost to members of the Japan Innovation Party in Osaka, which is located in the Kansai region. They include former Diet members of middle rank who are familiar with the work of Komeito’s policy research council and include Toru Kunishige in Osaka Constituency No. 5 and Shinichi Isa in the No. 5 Osaka Constituency 6.
The party is concerned that the election results might make it harder to spread party policies.
Ishii said of the defeat, “We lacked the ability to overcome the headwinds.” The public outcry over the LDP’s political funds scandals hurt Komeito.
In the proportional representation category, Komeito received approximately 6 million votes, down from 7.11 million in the 2021 lower house election.
The party is still reeling from the crushing defeat in its first major national election since Daisaku Ikeda, the honorary president of Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization that is part of Komeito’s support base and died in November 2023.
In September, Ishii took over as party chief representative, succeeding Natsuo Yamaguchi, who had held the position for 15 years. It might be hard to choose Ishii’s successor.
In order to get ready for the important elections for Komeito—the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election and the House of Councillors election—both of which are scheduled for the summer, there is not much time left to rebuild the party.
The party is increasingly of the opinion that Makoto Nishida, who took over as Komeito secretary general in September, and policy research council chair Mitsunari Okamoto, who won Tokyo Constituency No. 29.
