Sanae Takaichi Becomes First Female LDP President !!
– Thinking that the reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives –
After Prime Minister Ishiba announced his resignation, the candidates for the next Liberal Democratic Party(hereinafter called LDP) of Japan presidential election have been confirmed.
Excellent. Among those candidates was Councilor Takaichi.
Saito, the leader of the New Komeito party which has long supported the LDP coalition government, stated that “If we are to form a coalition government, it must be with someone who aligns with our conservative-centrist ideology(No, it’s the liberal-left..) and our principles. Otherwise, it is impossible to form a coalition government.” This comment could be interpreted as intervention in the LDP presidential election.
Sanae Takaichi has won the election as the first female LDP president !!
For New Komeito party, it must have been extremely inconvenient for LDP President Sanae Takaichi to become Prime Minister.
As declared, they unilaterally announced their withdrawal from the coalition government.
The Liberal Democratic Party is a minority governing party and must form coalitions with cooperating parties to maintain power.
The political situation has been unusually intense in recent years, with conditions changing daily.
On October 15th, four party leader meetings were held.
If the opposition parties form a coalition, it would result in a left-wing government even more left-wing than the previous Ishiba administration.
We were particularly interested in the meeting between the LDP and Japan Innovation Party (hereinafter called JIP) leaders. The reason is that not only Fujita co-leader, but also Yoshimura leader of JIP made a special trip to Tokyo to participate.
The JIP announced that it would start discussions with the LDP to form a coalition government.
The JIP proposed twelve government policies as preconditions for forming a coalition government with the LDP.
Also, they proposed reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives.
Personally, I agree with reducing the number of Diet members.
If starting the discussing of Diet members, we expect the discussion to cover not only reducing the number of Diet members, but also the electoral districts for the House of Councillors.This is because the pursuit of equality in outcomes has resulted in unequal treatment of the people.
■ About the electoral districts for the House of Councillors.
Regions known as House of Councillors merged electoral districts (merged districts) treat adjacent prefectures as a single electoral district.
Currently, Tottori Prefecture and Shimane Prefecture, and Tokushima Prefecture and Kochi Prefecture are merged districts.
This system was established due to the ‘one-vote disparity’ issue which has frequently been brought to court by lawyers.
What is a Diet member ?
You likely learned this in middle school, but the House of Representatives website also states: “Diet members bear the important responsibility of deliberating national politics on behalf of all citizens, having received the trust of the sovereign people”.
This House of Councillors merged electoral district feels like it’s saying country residents don’t need to be treated as citizens.
In fact, it states that “residents feel no affinity for candidates from neighboring prefectures”, meaning candidates from more populous areas gain an overwhelming advantage.
We believe advocating against vote weight disparities in Diet member elections amounts to demanding “equality of outcome (inequality in the election process).”
Shouldn’t the government be different from the private sector and treat all residents equally ?
■ About the Proportional Representation System
Unlike single-seat districts where voters directly elect individual candidates, proportional representation involves voting for a political party.
Each party’s number of seats is determined based on the proportion of votes it receives.
This makes it a crucial means for parties with relatively fewer supporters to secure seats, as they might not win in single-seat districts.
Diet members must listen to minority opinions. We hope for careful deliberation that takes this into account.
The problem with the proportional representation system is the so-called “rescue by proportional representation,” where candidates who lose in single-seat districts are elected through the proportional representation vote.
In other words, the problem is that candidates rejected by citizens in the election end up becoming their representatives.
However, since there are articles stating this proposal targets “rescue by proportional representation,” we want to watch the discussion closely.
Reference: THE YOMIURI SHINBUN ONLINE (2025/10/17)
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20251016-OYT1T50200
Reference: THE YOMIURI SHINBUN ONLINE (2025/10/18)
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/20250926-OYT1T50202
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/election/sangiin/20250712-OYT1T50049
Reference: THE SANKEI SHINBUN (2025/10/18)
https://www.sankei.com/article/20251018-ZZCV7SBQ2NMERPN45VUHDJHDXY
Reference: Nippon Television NEWS (2025/10/16)
https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/politics/d4ab6aef3b084a899c209a42de361de0?p=2
Reference: THE ASAHI SHINBUN (2025/10/17)
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASTBH3VL5TBHUTFK00JM.html
Reference: THE ASAHI SHINBUN (2025/10/18)
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASTBK3R4XTBKUTFK00TM.html
https://www.asahi.com/articles/AST7Q31V6T7QUTIL00RM.html
Reference: NIKKEI (2025/10/19)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA172AG0X11C25A0000000
Reference: The House of Representatives, Japan (2025/10/18)
https://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_annai.nsf/html/statics/kokkai/kokkai_giin.htm
Reference: TBS NES DIG (2025/09/27)
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/2155644
Thanks.
2025/09/30