The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan heads into Monday's presidential election with hopes of electing a new leader who can both unify the different groups within it and work with other opposition parties, possibly as a ruling coalition after the next general election.

But with three of the four candidates being party veterans with different ideas on how to accomplish those goals, and public opinion polls showing the CDP — the main opposition party — as being still far less popular than the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, it’s not clear how successful the winner will be in turning those hopes into reality.

A recent Jiji Press poll of CDP national lawmakers showed former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 67, leading the other two main candidates, former leader Yukio Edano, 60, and current leader Kenta Izumi. But among the CDP's regional officials, the three are in a tight race.

There are some differences among the candidates when it comes to policy. For example, Edano and Lower House member Harumi Yoshida, 52, are opposed to revising the Constitution to clarify the position of the Self-Defense Forces, while Noda has indicated that he is open to debating the move. Izumi hasn’t clearly indicated his stance on the issue.

The candidates also differ on the approach to take when it comes to cooperation with other opposition parties.

The more conservative Noda has indicated he favors closer cooperation with Nippon Ishin no Kai as well as the Democratic Party for the People (DPP).

Edano, on the other hand, helped forge a 2021 preelection agreement with the Japanese Communist Party to field unified candidates where possible, and appears less thrilled with the idea of cooperating with either Nippon Ishin or the DPP.

The four candidates spent the final week of campaigning often criticizing the LDP as well as a proposal for labor market reform put forth by LDP presidential candidate Shinjiro Koizumi that sparked controversy, even within the ruling party.

Koizumi’s talk of labor market reform, which caused a backlash against him and forced him to revise his remarks, was the target of criticism from Edano and Izumi during a debate among CDP candidates on Tuesday.

“For those who want to move to a better workplace, the freedom to quit their job is 100% guaranteed and if there is a rational reason, anyone can be fired. What more is there to do? Deregulation that relaxes protection for dismissed employees just makes it easier to fire people,” Edano said.

Izumi argued that it is impossible to further deregulate the labor market anyway at a time when Japan’s population is shrinking and companies are facing labor shortages.

If dismissal regulations are revised, more workers’ lives will become even more unstable, and there will be increase in the number of people who worry about an uncertain future, he said.

Once elected, the new CDP president will face the question of which opposition parties to cooperate with ahead of a general election that must take place by October 2025 and what such cooperation would look like.

If that election makes it possible for the CDP to form a coalition government with other opposition parties, the next question is which of the other major opposition parties it should invite to do so.

While the four candidates have emphasized the need for the CDP to become the sole ruling party, none of them are absolutely against the idea of a coalition government, possibly involving the DPP or Nippon Ishin.

“There are possibilities for all kinds of things,” Noda said at Tuesday's debate.