Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, on Saturday rejected the idea of forming a grand coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
“We want to focus on uniting the power of opposition parties to change the government,” Noda told a news conference in Ise, Mie Prefecture.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as LDP president, said in a radio program broadcast Wednesday that there “should be an option to form a grand coalition.”
Noda, however, poured cold water on this suggestion Saturday.
“A grand coalition is an option conceivable when there is a pandemic or a major crisis,” he said. “We don’t think about it in ordinary times.”
Meanwhile, Seiji Maehara, co-leader of opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), told a news conference also in Ise that his party was positioning itself as an outside force for an Upper House poll due this summer.
“We’ll discuss with the ruling bloc to implement policies, but we’ll prepare for the House of Councillors election as an opposition party,” he said.
Motohisa Furukawa, an executive with the opposition Democratic Party for the People, told a separate news conference in Ise that the DPFP has no intention of joining the LDP-led ruling camp.
