The ruling and opposition camps are going all out to woo the Democratic Party for the People ahead of the Diet vote to elect the next prime minister as early as next week.

Reeling from Komeito’s decision to withdraw from the ruling coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party is exploring a framework for cooperation centered on the DPP while the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is aiming for a change in government in cahoots with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) and the DPP.

LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki met with Kazuya Shinba, his DPP counterpart, on Oct. 14 to sound out his views on collaboration in government administration with an eye toward forming a coalition down the road.

Shinba made clear consultations on policy should be the priority.

“I believe we can largely align (with the LDP) on fundamental principles,” he said about national security issues, constitutional revision and energy policy centering on nuclear power.

Suzuki noted that like-minded thinking on fundamental principles is “crucial when considering stability in people’s lives and in politics.”

He told reporters after the meeting that he sought the DPP’s cooperation in the vote to elect the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during the extraordinary Diet session that will convene next week.

Although there was no direct discussion about a future coalition government, Shinba told reporters after the meeting: “Leaping straight into a coalition is not realistic. The priority is realizing policies.”

Suzuki proposed a meeting between the party leaders. LDP President Sanae Takaichi and DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki are expected to meet on Oct. 15.

Meantime, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi informed the directors’ meetings of the two Diet houses’ committees on rules and administration on Oct. 15 that the extraordinary Diet session will be convened on Oct. 21.

However, the ruling and opposition parties failed to agree on the date of the vote to designate the prime minister. 

The DPP, which is also being courted by the CDP to form an opposition alliance, has been thrust into the center of efforts to build a majority in the Diet.

The party is weighing whether it can better enhance its influence by joining forces with the LDP or with the opposition bloc--or refrain altogether from taking sides.

In the late afternoon of Oct. 14, CDP Secretary-General Jun Azumi held talks with Hiroshi Nakatsuka, his counterpart from Nippon Ishin, and Shinba at the CDP’s initiative.

“Given the current political situation, we want to field a unified candidate by joining with the DPP and Nippon Ishin,” Azumi said.

The CDP has already signaled flexibility on voting for its own leader, Yoshihiko Noda, and described Tamaki as a “strong contender.”

Azumi, Nakatsuka and Shinba did not go so far as to discuss consolidating around a specific candidate and left discussions on that and other policy matters to the meeting of the three party leaders scheduled for Oct. 15.

The CDP has 148 seats in the Lower House, compared with the LDP’s 196. It can outnumber the LDP if Nippon Ishin, with 35 seats, and the DPP, with 27 seats, act in unison.

At a CDP standing executive committee meeting earlier in the day, Noda, a former prime minister, was given a free hand in handling the party’s vote to elect the prime minister.

“A chance to wrest power from the LDP comes around only once in a decade or so,” he said. “This is a critical juncture.”

The DPP, for its part, has pressed the CDP to clarify whether it will approve restarting and replacing nuclear reactors and to specify which parts of the national security legislation it deems unconstitutional.

“We are in a situation where not even the slightest wavering on national security can be tolerated,” Tamaki has said.

The prevailing view within the DPP is that the CDP should try harder to closely align with DPP policies.

Noda has indicated flexibility in modifying party policies.

“We are not in a position where we cannot change a single word (of our policies),” he said. “I want to negotiate and leave some room for compromise, so we wind up with a successful outcome.”

But if the CDP falls short of meeting the DPP’s demands in full, the DPP may decide against unified action.

Shinba has repeatedly ruled out acting together just to “make up the numbers” in the vote to elect the prime minister.

“This is not a numbers game,” he said. “Our goal is realizing policies.”

Azumi is clearly irritated.

“We are playing the numbers game,” he said. “That is a given in this world. As long as you try to gloss it over with pretty words, you are not serious about it.”