As the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) went into Sunday’s Upper House poll with hopes of greatly adding to its preelection total of 38 seats in the 248 seat chamber. But it came out of the election with the exact same number.
The party won 22 seats, including 15 district and and seven proportional representation seats, in sharp contrast to populist opposition parties — the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) and Sanseito — that significantly boosted their totals. With another 16 CDP Upper House seats not up for election this time, the party now has 38 seats in the chamber.
The failure to expand its parliamentary strength could hurt the CDP’s attempts to convince smaller opposition parties that it has significant popularity behind it to create an all-opposition coalition that could take power.
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