For Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), two major opposition parties that have a history of siding with the ruling coalition and each other in parliament, the key challenge in the Upper House election is to convince voters that they are, despite appearances, different from the Liberal Democratic Party.
Ten years after its launch as Japan’s first Osaka-based national political party, Nippon Ishin heads into the July 10 poll with the aim of overtaking the Constitutional Democratic Party as the largest opposition force.
Nippon Ishin currently holds 15 seats in the chamber, six of which are up for re-election. It’s the second-largest opposition party after the CDP, which holds 45 seats. Nippon Ishin is fielding 20 multimember district candidates and 26 proportional representation candidates.