Overview
- CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda said in Fukui he is considering submitting a no-confidence motion when the ordinary Diet session opens on January 23.
- Noda plans to attack the fiscal 2026 budget as oversized, present an alternative plan, and press the ruling side over campaign payments tied to Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
- LDP secretary-general Shunichi Suzuki publicly urged bringing the Democratic Party for the People into a three-party coalition, citing recent policy alignment on the income threshold.
- The DPFP has pledged cooperation on the budget bill, reducing prospects for a unified opposition front against Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet.
- The LDP and the Japan Innovation Party hold a lower-house majority, while Takaichi noted her coalition lacks an upper-house majority and called for broader cooperation.