Media: Japanese opposition party on brink of split

Japan’s largest opposition party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, formed in January 2026, is likely to split into the two parties from which it was created.

Kyodo News reports that the party’s leader, Junya Ogawa, said a decision had been made to abandon plans for a merger with the remnants of the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito. According to Ogawa, the new goal will be to “expand centrist reform forces in a new form.”

In February’s House of Representatives election, the opposition secured a postwar record low of 49 seats. Before the election, the Centrist Reform Alliance had held 167 seats.

The party was formed in January from members of the Constitutional Democratic Party and lawmakers from Komeito, which had previously been a coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.