Komeito’s new leader faces immediate test with autumn session and upcoming votes

When newly elected Komeito leader Mitsunari Okamoto formally accepts his post at the party’s convention on Saturday, he’ll immediately face the task of leading the 49-lawmaker opposition force through the autumn session of parliament that begins Monday.

Okamoto, 61, is a former deputy finance minister with an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He was appointed Komeito’s new leader at the party’s executive meeting on Wednesday.

“I want to make a fresh start, and clearly communicate what kind of society Komeito wants in order to earn the trust of voters,” Okamoto said upon his appointment.

He will also be in charge of Komeito’s electoral strategy for next spring’s slate of nationwide local elections and the 2028 Upper House election, together with the party’s election-strategy chief.

But while Komeito is in opposition now, its 26-year coalition agreement with the Liberal Democratic Party, between 1999 and 2025, means that ties between the two parties, especially at the local level, could complicate the final vote tally in many local races with Komeito candidates.

With about 3,000 local politicians, the various forthcoming governor, mayor and assembly member elections will be a critical political test for the former ruling-coalition member after it parted ways with the LDP last year, withdrew from the unpopular opposition Centrist Reform Alliance last month, and now seeks to regain voter trust.

A Sept. 26-27 poll by the Asahi Shimbun showed Komeito’s support rate at 2%, the same as that of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, and the Japanese Communist Party. The LDP support rate was 30%.

Asked about the possibility of once again cooperating with the LDP, or perhaps even returning to the ruling coalition, which now includes the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), Okamoto said a formal coalition is not being considered at all.

But he did not rule out less formal cooperation with the party, especially with members Okamoto said shared Komeito’s political values. Komeito ended the coalition agreement after Sanae Takaichi, whose hawkish, conservative views are opposed by many Komeito members, became LDP president. She then brought the JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, into the ruling coalition.

“If a policy (proposed by the LDP or another party) is close to what we envision, I want to support it. On issues that differ from our values, I’d like to cooperate with other opposition parties,” Okamoto said.

While the LDP alone has a two-thirds Lower House majority, cooperation with Komeito on legislation by either ruling or opposition parties could be key in the Upper House, where Komeito has 21 members and the LDP-JIP coalition lacks a majority.