2026 POLLS: JIP Worried about Being Outshone by LDP Takaichi

Tokyo, Feb. 4 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Innovation Party is worried that it is overshadowed by popular Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in campaigning for Sunday's House of Representatives election.

The poll for the all-important lower parliamentary chamber is the first national election since the two parties formed a ruling coalition last October. The JIP hoped that the election would help boost its presence across the country.

"We want you all to compare the LDP and the JIP, and see which will push forward with reforms," JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura said in a stump speech in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, on Monday. He did not hide his sense of rivalry.

Opinion polls conducted by media outlets have shown public approval ratings for the Takaichi administration at around 60 pct. The strong support would be working in favor of the ruling coalition, if the two parties had worked out an election cooperation arrangement, as the LDP had done with its previous partner, Komeito.

In the upcoming poll, however, the LDP and the JIP have no such arrangement, with 85 out of the 289 single-seat constituencies involving a head-on battle between LDP and JIP candidates.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]