After almost two years of a COVID pandemic, Japanese voters headed to the polls to vote for the government post-Shinzo Abe. As expected, the center-right Liberal Democratic Party or LDP once again dominated the polls with Fumio Kishida as the new Prime Minister. Despite the LDP’s electoral victory, opposition parties maintained a sizable number with the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) as the second largest party. Interestingly, the rightwing populist Japan Innovation Party also won additional seats.
We talk with academic of Japanese history Sven Saaler to discuss the historical context of Japan’s political parties to better understand how the LDP has maintained a strong grip over the country’s politics and why opposition parties especially those from the center-left or progressive segments of Japanese politics have largely failed to undermine the LDP’s hegemony. We also try to understand how Japan’s progressives can make a bid to win power in the country.
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