Soon after the Nov. 9 general election of the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party of Japan compiled a thick report analyzing the results of all 300 single-seat constituencies.
The main opposition party arrived at the following conclusion: dozens of Liberal Democratic Party candidates would have lost without help from the ruling LDP's coalition partner, New Komeito, which boasts the solid backing of Soka Gakkai, the nation's largest lay Buddhist organization.
The major daily Mainichi Shimbun reached a similar conclusion in its own published simulation. In the election, 81 out of 168 successful LDP candidates in the single-seat electoral districts would have failed to win seats if New Komeito supporters had not cast votes for them, according to the daily.