Candidates from the ruling and opposition parties will compete one-on-one in 132 single-seat constituencies, or nearly half of all 289 constituencies, in the upcoming House of Representatives election.
Campaigning officially began Tuesday, with 1,051 people standing in the election.
Opposition parties have formed a united front, trying to compile protest votes against the current administration, a tactic criticized by the ruling bloc as an unprincipled alliance of convenience that ignores differences in their policies.
-- 'Serious battle alliance'
"It's the first time since the end of World War II that opposition parties have formed this serious a battle alliance," said Japanese Communist Party Chair Kazuo Shii, stressing the significance of the opposition coalition in a speech in front of JR Shinjuku Station.
The JCP has gone all in and reduced the number of its candidates to 105 for single-seat constituencies, halved from 206 in the previous 2017 lower house election. It also reduced to 48 the number of constituencies where it would compete with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
As a result, the number of constituencies in which the opposition camp will square off with the ruling parties one-on-one rose to 132, more than twice the previous 57.
The JCP is said to have between 20,000 and 30,000 solid votes per single-seat constituency. Partnering with others behind a single candidate would effectively consolidate the votes of people who are unsatisfied with the ruling parties.
However, not fielding its own candidate would "ruin our efforts to encourage voters to choose the names of JCP candidates on ballots, possibly taking our power away," a JCP official said.
In fact, out of the 213 constituencies where five parties -- the CDPJ, the JCP, the Democratic Party for the People, Reiwa Shinsengumi and the Social Democratic Party -- are united behind a single candidate, only 39, including the Kyoto No. 1 Constituency, feature JCP candidates. This is compared to 160 candidates who belong to the CDPJ.
A candidate who runs in a single-seat constituency has to pay a deposit of 3 million yen, so fewer candidates mean less cost. Not fielding a candidate from each party may contribute to the victory of the opposition parties as a whole.
The JCP gave up on fielding its candidates in the Hokkaido No. 9, Tokyo No. 23 and Chiba No. 8 constituencies; the opposition bloc will battle one-on-one against the ruling coalition here.
In the last election, the Liberal Democratic Party won in all these constituencies. However, if the votes for the candidates of the JCP and the now-defunct Kibo no To (Party of Hope) are combined, the number exceeds those for the LDP candidate in all those constituencies.
-- Ruling parties' fears
The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito are wary of the unprecedented coalition among the opposition parties and point an accusing finger at the JCP.
"Did the CDPJ partner with the JCP to become the 'Constitutional Communist Party?'" Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a speech in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture.
Aso stressed that the JCP will have an inevitable impact if the opposition party takes power. "What's going to happen to [their policies on] the Imperial system? Will the existence of the Self-Defense Forces be unconstitutional?" he said.
Despite the sense of crisis within the ruling bloc, the opposition parties are not perfectly in step with each other.
The DPFP did not participate in the policy agreement signed by the other four opposition parties through a civic group. There is persistent opposition to cooperating with the JCP, even within the CDPJ and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), which supports the CDPJ.
-- Ishin keeps its distance
One-on-one face-offs between the ruling and opposition blocs were not realized to the fullest extent because of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party). The party fielded 94 candidates in single-seat constituencies, far more than the 47 it fielded in the 2017 lower house election.
As a result, 67 constituencies, or over 20%, will be contested by three blocs: the ruling parties, the group of five opposition parties and Ishin.
Ishin fielded candidates not only in its turf in the Kansai region but also in Tokyo, where no Ishin-endorsed candidates ran in the previous election. Of the 25 constituencies in Tokyo, Ishin fielded 17 party-endorsed candidates, and 13 Tokyo constituencies will be contested by the three camps.
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