Overview
- CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito recorded a YouTube video to introduce the new Chudo Reform Alliance and said they aim to quickly embed the “Chudo” brand.
- Hokkaido party leaders said all 12 incumbent Lower House members in the prefecture will run under the new alliance, and CDP and Komeito executives in Hokkaido confirmed a coordination framework.
- The Democratic Party for the People named prefectural assembly member Akinari Kawai as its candidate in Shiga’s 1st district and, according to party sources, Yumi Hayashi plans to run in Wakayama’s 1st from Kokumin as Rengo’s call for a single opposition candidate leaves her support uncertain.
- Reporting in Hokkaido indicates Kokumin will field candidates against CDP in single-member districts for the first time there, with additional Communist Party runs raising the likelihood of dispersed opposition votes.
- LDP veteran and former Olympics minister Toshiaki Endo said he will not seek re‑election and pointed to his son Hiroaki as successor in Yamagata’s 1st district, while the Nago mayoral race opens with a de facto two-way contest focused on the Henoko base project and cost-of-living pressures.