The Liberal Democratic Party started efforts to secure enough votes in the Diet to name the prime minister and remain in power, but party members themselves do not appear united behind a single leader.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also LDP president, would seem a natural choice for the party. However, some LDP lawmakers want Ishiba to bow out to take responsibility for the ruling coalition’s loss of its majority in the Oct. 27 Lower House election.

A special Diet session will be convened as early as Nov. 11, and the two chambers will vote on who will be named prime minister.

The LDP-Komeito coalition holds a majority in the less powerful Upper House.

But in the Lower House election, it won only 215 seats, down from its pre-election strength of 279 and short of a majority in the 465-seat chamber.

Even if six successful independent candidates close to the coalition, many of whom are essentially LDP members, are taken into the fold, the coalition would still need 12 more seats to clinch a 233-seat majority in the Lower House.

Immediately after the election, the LDP began seeking cooperation from the opposition bloc for the Diet vote and beyond.

A senior official of opposition party Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) received a call from LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama on the morning of Oct. 28.

“We believe that there is high affinity (between the two parties),” Moriyama was quoted as saying. “We are looking forward to working with you.”

Nippon Ishin and the Democratic Party for the People, which share some of the LDP’s policies, are viewed as prospective partners. But they have little reason to readily side with the battered LDP-Komeito coalition.

In the Lower House election, Nippon Ishin, the second-largest opposition party, won 38 seats, while the DPP, the third-largest, increased its strength fourfold to 28 seats.

The Nippon Ishin official ended the cellphone call with Moriyama without giving any commitment.

Ishiba said he intends to work with opposition parties on individual policy issues, rather than expanding the two-party coalition to include a new partner.

“At this point, I do not have a coalition (with other parties) in my mind,” Ishiba told a news conference on Oct. 28. “We must begin by humbly incorporating and thoroughly discussing each other’s policies.”

A post-election reconciliation within the LDP could become a more formidable challenge for Ishiba and other party executives than negotiations with opposition parties.

“We had to fight a really tough campaign,” Takayuki Kobayashi said Oct. 27, without even raising his arms to celebrate his projected win in the Lower House election. “I want the party leadership to feel responsible.”

Kobayashi, former minister in charge of economic security, was among the eight rivals defeated by Ishiba in the LDP leadership contest in September.

Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, former environment minister, was more blunt about the new LDP leadership.

“So many party lawmakers lost their seats. I want (the prime minister) to immediately resign to take responsibility,” Yamaguchi said early on Oct. 28.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan made significant gains in the election but is facing difficulties in getting other opposition parties to vote for CDP President Yoshihiko Noda as prime minister in the Diet.

The main opposition party secured 148 seats in the Lower House, up by 50 from before the start of official campaigning.

At a news conference early on Oct. 28, Noda said he intends to enlist cooperation from the DPP, Nippon Ishin and the Japanese Communist Party for joint votes in the Diet.

The DPP and Nippon Ishin remain cool to the CDP’s overture, however.

“Our approaches to diplomacy, the Constitution, national security, energy and economic policies are sharply different,” Fumitake Fujita, Nippon Ishin’s secretary-general, told reporters on Oct. 28.

DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki said his party members will cast their votes for him.

“An agreement on basic policies is indispensable regardless of (whether we work with) the ruling or opposition parties,” Tamaki said.

JCP Chairwoman Tomoko Tamura, meanwhile, said the party will consider Noda’s proposal. The JCP has advocated an alliance of opposition parties to counter the LDP.

But even if the four parties join hands, they would still be 11 seats short of a majority in the Lower House.

A senior CDP official said consultations on joint votes are primarily meant to display a confrontational stance against the ruling coalition and build collaboration among opposition parties.

“Our basic strategy is to rush toward the Upper House election next summer as the largest opposition party by stepping up our criticism of the government,” the official said.