Photo/Illutration Yoshihiko Noda, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, points to the names of candidates projected to win at the party headquarters on Oct. 27. (Kotaro Ebara)

Unaffiliated voters shifted away from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Oct. 27 Lower House election and fueled the gains of opposition parties, an Asahi Shimbun exit poll showed.

Among voters without party affiliation, 14 percent picked the LDP in the proportional representation portion of the election, down from 19 percent in the previous election in 2021.

The LDP’s fund-raising scandal was apparently a cause for the shrinking support. 

When voters were asked if they took the LDP’s money scandal into account when they cast their ballots, 73 percent of all voters said they did, compared with 24 percent who did not.

In the last two Lower House elections, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was the top favorite among non-aligned voters, who accounted for 18 percent of all voters surveyed in 2024 and 15 percent in 2021.

Twenty-two percent of the unaffiliated voters voted for the CDP in the proportional representation part on Oct. 27, up from 21 percent in 2021.

In the exit poll, voters were asked which party they support. Those who answered they do not support any political party and those who said they do not know are counted as non-aligned voters.

Eleven percent of those voters cast their ballots for the opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), down from 18 percent in 2021.

In contrast, 16 percent picked the Democratic Party for the People, double the 8 percent who did so in 2021, and 11 percent voted for Reiwa Shinsengumi, up from 7 percent.

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