Japan ruling party's junior ally Komeito to end coalition after 26 years
The withdrawal of Komeito, known as a pacifist party dovish on defense issues, comes after Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative lawmaker, became LDP president on Saturday amid widening differences over the response to a high-profile political funds scandal.
With Komeito leaving the coalition, the LDP will remain a minority government in the powerful House of Representatives unless it brings in at least two relatively large opposition parties, marking Japan's biggest political shift in a quarter century.
Takaichi, leader of the LDP that has been in power almost continuously for 70 years, has yet to be designated prime minister by parliament. Komeito's departure has cast uncertainty over the future of the woman expected to become Japan's first female prime minister.
As Komeito has long maintained friendly ties with China, attention is now on how the hawkish Takaichi, known for her hard-line stance on history and national security, will handle relations with neighboring countries, including South Korea.
While Komeito, backed by Japan's biggest lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, vows to continue to cooperate with the LDP on a policy basis, the move is a blow to Takaichi, who has replaced outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as party head.
Komeito wants to "draw an end to the relationship," said Tetsuo Saito, chief of the party, which calls itself a "peace party," after holding talks with Takaichi for the second time since she took over the LDP helm.
The ruling coalition has already lost its majority in both chambers of parliament in the past two national elections since Ishiba took office in October last year, with the setbacks partly attributed to the political fundraising scandal involving key LDP factions.
Even without Komeito, the LDP remains the largest force in the lower house and the House of Councillors. But if Takaichi becomes prime minister, she would face increasing challenges in managing the minority government, making accommodations with opposition parties inevitable to pass budgets and bills.
Komeito initially formed a coalition government with the LDP from 1999 to 2009, and they later regained power together in 2012 and have held it ever since.
Cracks in the coalition emerged after Takaichi was elected LDP leader and appointed Koichi Hagiuda, a heavyweight lawmaker implicated in the scandal whose secretary has been indicted over it, to a key post in her party.
Takaichi and Saito discussed their coalition framework based on three issues -- views on history, including visits to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Komeito's concerns over potentially exclusionary policies toward foreigners, and political funding reforms.
However, they could not agree on the third issue, with Komeito demanding more efforts to get to the bottom of the funds scandal and tighter controls on political donations by businesses and organizations.
Saito said the LDP's stance explained by Takaichi at Friday's meeting on the political donation issue, which is "the most important matter" for Komeito, was "truly insufficient" and "extremely regrettable."
"Public confidence in politics has been largely damaged, and the current situation is far from recovery," Saito said, adding election cooperation between the two parties would return to a "clean slate."
Following Saito's announcement, Takaichi told reporters that the "unilateral" decision by Komeito was "truly regrettable," underscoring that her party is serious about the political money issue and is examining how to respond to it.
Takaichi added that Komeito denied any connection between its withdrawal from the ruling camp and her election as LDP leader.
As the LDP suffered consecutive poor showings in elections over the slush funds scandal, support for Komeito also waned, costing the party several seats.
Meanwhile, Japan's aging population has eroded Komeito's traditional support base, with membership in its backer Soka Gakkai falling by millions in recent years from an estimated 10 million at its peak, political experts said.
The government and the LDP have been considering convening an extraordinary Diet session later this month to pick Ishiba's successor, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Saito said Komeito lawmakers will cast their ballots for him as prime minister in the parliamentary vote instead of Takaichi.
==Kyodo
