Just over a year after Nippon Ishin no Kai chose Nobuyuki Baba as leader, the center-right party largely concentrated in the Kansai region is polling well against other opposition parties as it selects candidates for an eventual general election.
But within the Nippon Ishin leadership, there are growing differences over the party’s future direction, including whether it’s better to remain an opposition party or consider joining the ruling coalition, given that Nippon Ishin shares many policy goals of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, such as increased defense spending and constitutional revision.
Since taking over from Osaka mayor and Nippon Ishin co-founder Ichiro Matsui as party leader in August last year, Baba, 58, has indicated on several occasions that the possibility of Nippon Ishin joining the ruling coalition, under the right conditions, was not out of the question.