By Sanxuan

Have you heard about the split between the Komeito Party and the Liberal Democratic Party? It seems that Takahashi Hayato's position as Prime Minister is in jeopardy. However, on the other hand, the possibility of Tachibana Yuichiro, the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, becoming Prime Minister is increasing.

Takahashi Hayato

In terms of seats, the Constitutional Democratic Party isn't a big party, with only 27 seats, which is less than a tenth of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, which has 148 seats.

However, under the parliamentary system, there's an interesting phenomenon called "the critical few," meaning that even though they don't have many seats, they have a significant impact, and various parties want to win them over, thus giving them considerable influence.

The Constitutional Democratic Party is one that Takahashi Hayato has been trying hard to win over, and even the split between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito Party is related to this.

Since 1999, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito Party have been cooperating for 26 years. In the eyes of the outside world, the Komeito Party was seen as a subordinate of the Liberal Democratic Party, and it was not expected that they would change their loyalty.

Takahashi Hayato also thought so, so after being elected as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, he immediately went to meet Tachibana Yuichiro to discuss cooperation, without even asking whether the Komeito Party was willing to continue the joint ruling agreement.

Takahashi Hayato and the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Tachibana Yuichiro

This upset the leadership of the Komeito Party greatly. Originally, the Komeito Party had suffered from the "black money scandal" of the Liberal Democratic Party, which affected their election prospects, otherwise they wouldn't have only twenty or so seats. Now, Takahashi Hayato quietly left his allies to negotiate with the opposition party, which was too disrespectful.

On policy concepts, the Komeito Party and Takahashi Hayato also had many contradictions. A little-known fact is that the Komeito Party supports friendly and peaceful policies towards China. If it weren't for the Komeito Party mediating, the Liberal Democratic Party's policy towards China would be more radical.

Yet, Takahashi Hayato is known for being extreme, even more so than her mentor, Abe Shinzo. The Komeito Party had already given them a warning before the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, saying that if the person chosen didn't align with the Komeito Party's political philosophy, they couldn't continue to be tied together.

After being elected as the president, Takahashi Hayato was overwhelmed by the joy of victory and focused on winning over the opposition, never expecting that the fire would start at home first.

Takahashi Hayato and Ishibashi Shigeru

The current situation is that Takahashi Hayato can definitely get the 193 votes from the Liberal Democratic Party, while the Constitutional Democratic Party has no intention of joining forces with them now, saying they will vote for their own party leader, Tachibana Yuichiro, with all 27 votes.

Moreover, Tachibana has received support from the Constitutional Democratic Party. If he gets another 38 votes from the Restoration Party, Tachibana's total votes will exceed Takahashi Hayato, reaching 213 votes.

The Komeito Party may join the opposition or vote for their own party leader. Either way, Takahashi Hayato's chances of winning are slim.

Tachibana Yuichiro said he is ready to become Prime Minister, but there are still some differences with the Constitutional Democratic Party on certain issues. Analysts believe that the Constitutional Democratic Party may prepare for two possibilities in the future, negotiating with the Liberal Democratic Party on one hand, and preparing to form a coalition government with the opposition on the other.

The leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Tachibana Yuichiro

Seeing the hope of governing becoming increasingly remote, some members of the Liberal Democratic Party came up with a "clever idea": since everyone doesn't want Takahashi Hayato to become Prime Minister, why not let Ishibashi Shigeru stay on? Takahashi Hayato as the president, Ishibashi as the Prime Minister, there would be an explanation both inside and outside the party, which is very good.

The person who came up with this idea is really a smart one. It turns out that the Liberal Democratic Party has become a rat on the street, and they still want to take advantage of everything. How could there be such a good thing in the world?

Moreover, it wasn't the Komeito Party or the opposition that forced Ishibashi Shigeru to resign, but your own party. Ishibashi Shigeru did try hard, but the leaders of the former Abe faction and the Asō faction persuaded him one by one, forcing him to step down. Now, having messed up themselves, they remember Ishibashi Shigeru again, which is simply unbearable to comment on.

Ishibashi Shigeru

But to be fair, Ishibashi Shigeru is relatively normal among the Liberal Democratic Party members. A few days ago, he spoke out about his personal views on the 80th anniversary of the war, reflecting on the mistakes made by the Liberal Democratic Party during World War II. Although he didn't deeply reflect, it's rare to hear such a voice in the current Japanese political arena.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559889068311462443/

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