Japan's main opposition party collapses after eight months

Japan's fragmented political opposition sank into deeper disarray on Wednesday as its main party announced that it would disband, following a failed effort to counter Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's highly popular administration.

The Centrist Reform Alliance will terminate its activities, its chief Junya Ogawa told a press conference, ending an eight-month attempt to create an effective political counterweight to Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

"Once we settle outstanding payments, we will dissolve the party," he said.

The Centrist party was formed hastily in January as an attempt to merge two major opposition groups and build a stronger, more unified movement against Takaichi.

Those groups were the Komeito -- the LDP's former coalition partner -- and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

But the new party suffered a crushing defeat in February's general election, securing only 49 seats in the 465-seat lower house, and unseating more than 100 of its own incumbents seeking re-elections.

The LDP added more than 100 seats, winning 316 in total.

Some members of the Centrists are expected to return to their old parties or form new ones.

Despite the party's collapse, its members are expected to form a lower-house caucus to continue pushing for a viable alternative to the LDP, Ogawa said.

Pacifist Komeito, backed by a lay Buddhist organisation, ended its 26-year coalition with the LDP in October last year, saying its partner had refused to strengthen regulations on political donations in the wake of a fundraising scandal.

AFP

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