Photo/Illutration Yoshihiko Noda, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks at a news conference on June 19. (Takeshi Iwashita)

The main opposition party officially dropped plans to submit a no-confidence motion against the Ishiba Cabinet during the current Diet session, saying Japan needs to stay focused on more pressing issues.

“We must avoid creating a political vacuum,” Yoshihiko Noda, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said at a news conference on June 19.

Noda described U.S. tariffs on Japanese products as a national crisis and said the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran has made evacuation of Japanese nationals an urgent task.

“At the moment, the responsible behavior for the largest opposition party is not to work against the government but rather give it an encouraging pat on the back,” Noda said.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is now expected to close the Diet session as scheduled on June 22, which effectively sets the Upper House election for July 20 with campaigning starting on July 3.

Noda said a no-confidence motion may be submitted later, possibly during an extraordinary Diet session in autumn, if the Ishiba administration fails to strike an agreement with the United States on the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

Ishiba has told his aides that if the CDP were to submit a no-confidence motion, he would dissolve the Lower House for a snap election without taking a vote on the motion.

Such a move would lead to simultaneous elections next month for both Diet chambers.

Some CDP lawmakers said the party must sponsor a no-confidence motion even at the risk of simultaneous elections.

But CDP executives expressed concern that the party would be at a disadvantage in a dual-election scenario because it has been underprepared in recruiting candidates, raising funds and coordinating with other opposition parties.

At the news conference, Noda said a no-confidence motion risks losing the opposition bloc’s advantage in the Lower House, where the ruling coalition has been driven into a minority.

The CDP chief made the announcement shortly after Ishiba briefed leaders of the ruling and opposition parties on the status of negotiations over U.S. tariffs and other policy issues.

Noda also met with the leaders of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), the Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Communist Party before the news conference and informed them of the CDP’s plan not to submit a no-confidence motion.

The CDP is the only opposition party that holds the number of seats required for sponsoring a no-confidence motion on its own.

But the CDP would need help from other opposition parties to actually pass the no-confidence motion and force the prime minister to either dissolve the Lower House or have his Cabinet resign en masse.

However, Nippon Ishin and the DPP have been reluctant to jointly sponsor a no-confidence motion, although they previously called on the CDP to go ahead with the plan.

(This article was written by Takahiro Okubo and Ryohei Miyawaki.)

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