Photo/Illutration The Diet building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Koichi Ueda)

The leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition party both dismissed the idea of forming a grand coalition on specific issues after the Upper House election.

The scenario was raised at a June 29 convention of Reiwa Rincho, a group of business leaders and academics. At the session, the heads of six ruling and opposition parties were individually interviewed.

Speculation over possible political alliances has been swirling since the governing LDP-Komeito coalition lost its majority in the Lower House election in October.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will continue to lead a minority government regardless of the outcome of the July 20 Upper House election.

The party leaders were asked about the possibility of a post-election grand coalition between the LDP and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which is the largest opposition party, to push certain issues.

“As the Cabinet is collectively responsible to the Diet, there can be no coalition on one or two issues alone under the Constitution,” Ishiba, who is LDP president, said.

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) proposed a grand coalition, but Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the LDP, which was in the opposition camp, declined the overture.

Citing that episode, Ishiba said, “A coalition should be formed after a certain degree of agreement is reached on diplomacy, security and finance.”

CDP President Yoshihiko Noda said the party aims to take over the reins of government on its own, in principle.

“There can be no grand coalition on a single issue,” he said.

Emphasizing that the CDP will hold consultations with like-minded parties, Noda said: “When I think how about (joining) with the LDP, I do not think it is so easy. We will never lightly form a coalition with those on the opposite shore.”

Noda expressed hope for working with other opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Party for the People. The CDP and the DPP were originally formed by former DPJ lawmakers.

The party leaders at the conference were also asked about the possibility of the LDP-Komeito coalition expanding to include opposition parties.

Tetsuo Saito, leader of Komeito, said, “We are not at the stage now where we should consider a partner other than the LDP.”

DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki did not explicitly rule out the possibility of joining a coalition government.

“If the policy is good for Japan, we want to cooperate with other parties regardless of whether they are in the ruling coalition or the opposition,” he said. “We cannot tell what the combination will be, depending on the outcome of the election.”

Reiwa Rincho, officially called Reinventing Infrastructure of Wisdom and Action, is headed by four co-representatives, including Takeshi Sasaki, former president of the University of Tokyo.

The other two party chiefs who attended the group’s convention were Hirofumi Yoshimura of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) and Tomoko Tamura of the Japanese Communist Party.

(This article was written by Kae Kawashima and Shohei Sasagawa.)

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