Photo/Illutration Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks at a news conference in Osaka on Dec. 1 after being elected as new leader of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party). (Nobuhiro Shirai)

OSAKA—Hirofumi Yoshimura, who was elected leader of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) on Dec. 1, said he will rescind the party’s goal to become the top opposition force.

At a news conference after the leadership election here of the second-largest opposition party, Yoshimura said he will instead seek cooperation with other parties to gain a majority in the Upper House election expected next summer.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost its majority in the Oct. 27 Lower House election.

If the opposition bloc also denies the coalition a majority in the Upper House, “it will bring us closer to realizing our campaign pledges,” said Yoshimura, the governor of Osaka Prefecture, who has served as Nippon Ishin’s co-representative since 2022.

Yoshimura, 49, gained an overwhelming 8,547 votes in the leadership election held at an extraordinary party congress.

His three rivals--Upper House member Shigefumi Matsuzawa, 66; Lower House member Ryuna Kanemura, 45; and Lower House member Seiki Soramoto, 60--received a combined 2,193 votes.

Nippon Ishin suffered a setback in the Lower House election under outgoing leader Nobuyuki Baba, while other opposition parties gained ground.

The party’s strength shrank to 38 seats, down from 44 before the election.

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which won 148 seats, up about 50 percent, is now taking on the LDP-Komeito coalition on political reform and other issues.

In contrast, the Democratic Party for the People is working with the governing coalition on economic policies. The DPP, the third-largest opposition party, is seen as holding a deciding vote on bills after boosting its strength fourfold to 28 seats in the Lower House.

Yoshimura intends to turn around Nippon Ishin’s fortunes by working with other opposition parties.

At the Dec. 1 news conference, Yoshimura said he will maintain Baba’s goal of turning Nippon Ishin, whose power base is in Osaka, into a party with a nationwide strength and appeal.

But he denied Baba’s policy to field a large number of party candidates in national elections.

Yoshimura said opposition parties should unify their candidates to set up one-on-one contests against ruling coalition candidates in Upper House single-seat constituencies.

During campaigning for the party leadership race, he proposed holding “preliminary elections” among potential contenders to determine unified opposition candidates.

“We want to discuss how to establish fair rules (for primaries),” he said Dec. 1.

Yoshimura said he intends to nominate Seiji Maehara, a veteran Lower House member who joined Nippon Ishin before the October election, as the party co-representative, who will double as leader of the group of party lawmakers.

He expects Maehara, who led the Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party, another now-defunct opposition party, to serve as the face of Nippon Ishin in national politics and help ensure a stable party administration.

But regaining party unity is expected to be Yoshimura’s primary challenge in the near term.

Baba and many former party executives under him have indicated that they will distance themselves from the new leadership.

“(Yoshimura) can give it a try,” one former executive said. “He is destined to see our party being overshadowed.”

Many lawmakers are frustrated because Baba was effectively forced to leave the top post to take responsibility for the party’s losses in the Lower House election.

Many unsuccessful candidates in the election have refrained from being reappointed as heads of party branches, who would also normally run in a next Lower House election.

(This article was compiled from reports by Kei Kobayashi and Yuichi Nobira.)

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