As Mr. Shinzo Abe took the helm of the Liberal Democratic Party last month, Komeito, the junior partner with the LDP in the ruling coalition, saw a change in party leadership. Mr. Akihiro Ota and Mr. Kazuo Kitagawa replaced Mr. Takenori Kanzaki and Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, respectively, as president and secretary general.

Komeito, backed by Soka Gakkai, the nation's largest lay Buddhist organization, and known as an advocate of peace and improvement of people's welfare, faces the difficult task of preserving and promoting its own identity while functioning as part of the governing bloc.

Komeito went into partnership with the LDP in October 1999 under the Obuchi administration. As the partnership enters its eighth year, Komeito faces a dilemma over Mr. Abe's advocacy of a revision of the war-renouncing Constitution as well as a review of the long-standing policy of not exercising the right to collective defense.