The priority for the Democratic Party of Japan, which this week kicked off the race to choose its new leader, is to rebuild itself into a force that can, either on its own or through mergers or alliances with other parties, once again present voters with an alternative to the ruling bloc — a role that it failed to play as the largest opposition party in the Lower House election last month.
Regardless of who becomes the new DPJ president in the Jan. 18 vote, the race should serve as an occasion for the party and its members to think about what was wrong with the party when it led the government from 2009 to 2012 and what it needs to do to regain voters' confidence.
The results of the December election did not mark a turnaround in the DPJ's downtrend since its crushing defeat in the 2012 Lower House election. While the DPJ managed marginal gains from its pre-election strength, president Banri Kaieda's loss of his Diet seat, which paved the way for the leadership race, symbolized the party's woes. The splintered opposition camp was obviously not viewed by voters as a viable alternative to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition, which was returned to a two-thirds majority in the Lower House.