<figure id="attachment_457505" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457505" style="width: 4000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1ce857ca"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/786212266420aa0a6974a03a8c3c8c27.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457505" class="wp-caption-text">Co-chairs Noda and Saito nodded at the disastrous defeat of the center-right in the opening of the general election, but &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> The former Komei has 28 seats, more than in the previous lower house election.</span></h2>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;We have a responsibility worth dying for.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> This was said emphatically by Yoshihiko Noda, 68, former co-chairman of the centrist Reform Coalition.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> In the lower house election held on February 8, the Coalition for Reform in the Central Provinces, consisting of the Democratic Party of Japan and the New Kōmeitō, suffered a crushing defeat, losing 49 seats, less than one-third of the 167 seats it held prior to the announcement of the election. A national newspaper reporter in charge of politics who was at the vote counting center said, &#8220;It&#8217;s a complete wake.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It was a complete wake. The customary ceremony to place flowers on the winners of the election was not held. I was left with the impression of Noda&#8217;s vacant eyes.</span></p>
<p> He testified.</p>
<p> In the meantime, an election will be held on January 13 to choose a new representative to replace Noda and Tetsuo Saito, 74, who resigned on January 9 to take responsibility for the disastrous election defeat. It will be a runoff between Junya Ogawa, 54, a former member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and Takeru Kai, 59, who won the primary election.</p>
<p> However, the former Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is in a situation where it can be said to have been decimated.</p>
<p> Yukio Edano (61), founder of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Jun Azumi (64), joint secretary general who led the formation of the center-right party, Sumio Mabuchi (65), co-chairman of the election campaign committee, and Ichiro Ozawa (83), former representative of the Democratic Party of Japan, were also defeated in their constituencies and failed to regain proportional representation.</p>
<p> Former Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (72), former Vice Chairman Banri Kaieda (76), and former Vice Chairman Koichiro Gemba (61), all of whom had not been selected proportionally, also &#8220;left&#8221; the Diet. The most shocking of all was the primary election loss of Akira Nagatsuma, 65, former minister of health, labor, and welfare, known as &#8220;Mr. Pension.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Nagatsuma&#8217;s candidacy in Tokyo&#8217;s 27th district was supposed to be a &#8216;sure thing. When the news of his election loss arrived, people in the middle of the road said, &#8216;I didn&#8217;t think this would happen. It&#8217;s impossible,'&#8221; they said with a twinkle in their eyes. Later, Mr. Nagatsuma was elected again on a proportional basis, but the headwind against Nakamichi was hurricane force.</span></p>
<p> The LDP&#8217;s 316 seats in the Diet alone, and its heavy defeat, has not only left a &#8220;lump&#8221; in the centrist party, but it is getting bigger. This is because former Komei lawmakers were given preferential treatment in the proportional list and won 28 seats, more than in the previous lower house election in 2012. A person involved in the Rikken movement was indignant when interviewed by this website.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> They have been completely taken advantage of,&#8221; said a person involved in the Rikken movement. The executive committee, including Mr. Noda, Mr. Azumi, and Mr. Mabuchi, who promoted the formation of a centrist party, bear a heavy responsibility. If we were to compare the situation to the battle of Sekigahara, the former Komeito lawmakers were on high ground, while the former Rikken lawmakers were killed in the field of battle, one by one. I think that Noda and the rest of the executive branch, impatient with the sudden dissolution of the party, gave away too much in terms of the Komei Party&#8217;s organizational votes.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;spark&quot; that is smoldering in the central provinces of Japan is ......"></div>
<div class="expapp-yahoo-paragraph-break"></div>
<figure id="attachment_457511" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457511" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d1b4af46"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/50a0c8477d750ccf1ea9964471c36536.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457511" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi leads the LDP to an overwhelming victory despite being criticized for dissolving the LDP without a cause</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> Hell to Go Forward, Hell to Retreat</span></h2>
<p> In 2012, when the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was in power, Noda suddenly called for the dissolution of the DPJ in a party leadership debate with the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and suffered a historic defeat in the election that followed. In light of this, he has been ridiculed on social networking sites as &#8220;the man who crushed the DPJ twice.</p>
<p> A Rikken official who knows Mr. Noda said, &#8220;He is usually mild-mannered.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Noda is always mild-mannered and straightforward. He is so well-liked that if you walk down the local shopping street, people will call out to him, &#8216;Mr. Noda! In his private life, he is a professional wrestling expert, especially a big fan of the late Jumbo Tsuruta. When he starts talking about professional wrestling, he can&#8217;t stop. Frankly speaking, the result may have been a result of Mr. Noda&#8217;s &#8220;good-naturedness&#8221; being taken advantage of.</span></p>
<p> He also pointed out that &#8220;the result may have taken advantage of Mr. Noda&#8217;s &#8216;good-naturedness&#8217;.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> Nakamichi had supported the Security Treaty as constitutional and the restart of nuclear power plants, but he was opposed to the Constitution. The fact that the two parties entered the election campaign without correcting their positions left many of their supporters confused and disillusioned.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> To be honest, the Rikken side did not receive as many votes as they had hoped for from the Komei organization. To be honest, the Rikken side did not receive as many organizational votes as they had hoped for. There were even people who did not support the Rikken candidates running in the primary election, but instead joined the LDP. From the beginning, the Nakamichi was not monolithic.</span></p>
<p> What will happen to the Nakamichi in the future?　The party has adopted a &#8220;separation of state and territory&#8221; policy, and although the former Rikken and the former Komeito were joined together in the House of Representatives, they remain the Rikken Democratic Party and the Komeito Party in the upper house and local assemblies, respectively. Former co-chairman Saito said at a press conference.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;Our direction is to rally the local and House of Councillors toward a middle path in the future.</span></p>
<p> But there is no doubt that the road ahead will be difficult.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> We are now in a situation where we are in hell going forward and in hell going backward,&#8221; he said in response to an interview with this website.</span></p>
<p> Political commentator Harumi Arima responded to this website, saying, &#8220;Within the party, of course, there are those who say, &#8216;This is the way things should be.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Some in the party naturally say that they should split off from Komei and come back as &#8220;Shin&#8221; Rikken, while others say that they should work together because if they leave now, they will be criticized as a &#8220;mutual aid association for the sake of elections. Nevertheless, all members of the council, including those who lost their elections, probably have strong feelings about the matter. The spark of division is still smoldering.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> If you win, you are the government&#8217;s army; if you lose, you are the bandits&#8217; army. A heavy atmosphere is spreading inside the center.</p>


 Yoshio Tsunoda/Afro (1st), Takeshi Kinugawa (2nd)

 The Chuodo Reform Coalition suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. Under such circumstances, a representative election will be held to replace co-chairmen Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, who resigned. Even so, the "sparks" between the former Rikken and the former New Komeito continue to smolder. ......

Junya Ogawa vs. Takeru Sekai: &#8220;Representative Election&#8221; but&#8230; &#8220;Komei Increases Seats, Rikken is Destroyed&#8221; and the &#8220;Spark of Division&#8221; in the Coalition for Reform of the Middle Way.

Junya Ogawa vs. Takeru Sekai: “Representative Election” but… “Komei Increases Seats, Rikken is Destroyed” and the “Spark of Division” in the Coalition for Reform of the Middle Way.

Access Ranking