Komeito, the junior partner of the LDP-led coalition government that was ousted from power in the Aug. 30 Lower House election, has chosen policy chief Mr. Natsuo Yamaguchi as its new leader and election campaign chief Mr. Yoshihisa Inoue as secretary general.

The new leadership has its work cut out. The party emerged from the election with 10 fewer seats in the Lower House, leaving it with just 21. All eight of its candidates in single-seat constituencies, including party leader Akihiro Ota and secretary general Kazuo Kitagawa, failed to win. To reconstruct the party, it is essential for the new party leaders to review Komeito's performance in the coalition and draw the right lessons.

In 1999, Komeito joined a tripartite ruling coalition made up of the LDP, Komeito and the Liberal Party. At the time the LDP hoped that the coalition would allow it to regain a majority in the Upper House. The Komeito leader at the time, Mr. Takenori Kanzaki, stressed the importance of stabilizing politics when he accepted the LDP's call to join the coalition. Later the Liberal Party withdrew from the coalition.

Komeito's main slogan is "social welfare and peace," but such ideals hardly saw the light of day during the party's partnership with the LDP. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who came to power in 2001, pushed for structural reform that has widened the gaps between the rich and poor and weakened the nation's social fabric. He also sent Self-Defense Force units to Iraq and the Indian Ocean. His successor, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, enacted a law for procedures to amend the Constitution and revised the Fundamental Law of Education to instill patriotism into children.

By placing priority on the coalition's survival rather than its own ideals, Komeito ended up eroding its own support base. The party would be wise to view its defeat in the Lower House election as an opportunity to return to its principles of protecting the socially weak and promoting peace.