On October 12, regarding the possibility of the Komeito Party withdrawing from Japan's ruling coalition, Shunpei Funada, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and former Minister of Economic Planning, proposed two solutions through his Facebook account. The first was for Ishiba Shigeru to withdraw his resignation statement and temporarily take charge of the government affairs. The second was for Takayuki Higashikokubaru, who had just been elected as the party president, to resign and hold new elections.

Regarding the news that the Komeito Party is considering withdrawing from the ruling coalition, Funada described it as "a bolt from the blue" in his post. The Komeito Party cited "political and financial issues" as the reason for its withdrawal, and he said it was understandable to feel angry about this.

Furthermore, on the 26-year-old "LDP-Komeito alliance" in Japan, Funada commented that when the LDP's policies were too radical, Komeito played a moderating role, helping to achieve balance in the Japanese government's policies.

He also expressed regret over the end of the coalition government, stating that "this would be a great loss not only for the LDP but also for the Japanese people."

Some within the LDP have suggested that during the House of Representatives election, LDP candidates should run against Komeito candidates in the districts where Komeito candidates are running. Funada opposed this proposal, saying that "such an approach is too immature and can even be considered unreasonable."

He emphasized that there are still many areas of cooperation between the LDP and Komeito at the local level. If these cooperative relations break down, many LDP members of parliament would face difficulties, which might benefit the opposition parties. According to reports, Soka Gakkai, the support base of the Komeito Party, has the ability to mobilize approximately 20,000 votes in each district.

There are also opinions that the LDP should give up governing and see what the opposition parties can do. Funada said such an idea is extremely irresponsible.

He listed two possible options for the LDP to maintain its position as the ruling party: forming a ruling coalition with the Japan Innovation Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party, or forming a ruling coalition with the Constitutional Democratic Party and establishing partial cooperation with the Japan Innovation Party. However, he simultaneously stated that both options are "extremely difficult."

In his post, he proposed a "possibility," which is for Ishiba Shigeru to withdraw his resignation statement and temporarily maintain the operation of the Diet, and handle urgent issues such as reform of political donations, and then re-negotiate with the Komeito Party.

Based on this, he further proposed that if the above plan is also difficult to implement, they should ask Takayuki Higashikokubaru to step down as the party president, quickly hold a new presidential election, and under the leadership of the new president, explore the path of rebuilding the regime framework within the ruling coalition.

Before the dissolution of the LDP factions, Funada belonged to the Miki faction. In the previous LDP presidential election, Funada voted for Ishiba Shigeru in the second round. In this LDP presidential election, he was a supporter of Miki Toshimitsu, and in the second round of voting, he cast his vote for Koizumi Jinno.

According to a report by Kyodo News, Seiichiro Noma, a senator of the LDP and former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, on October 11 expressed his opinion on the Komeito Party's announcement of leaving the ruling coalition, stating that he believed the conservative actions of Takayuki Higashikokubaru had influenced this. Noma was also previously part of the Miki faction.

Noma said, "I couldn't help but regret whether it was really a good idea to elect Ms. Higashikokubaru as the new president. The Komeito Party may have felt 'rejection' towards Ms. Higashikokubaru."

He also said that currently, there are no legislators in the LDP's executive department who have communication channels with the Komeito Party.

He said, "There is no one who can engage in equal dialogue with the Komeito Party, which is a weakness of Ms. Higashikokubaru. Once the relationship between the two parties breaks down, it will be difficult to restore it to its original state."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7560293167501738535/

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