Japan: Political Developments and Data in 2024

Abstract Following several years of opinion polling decline, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sought to draw a line under successive scandals with the election of a new leader, Shigeru Ishiba. However, the LDP-led coalition went on to lose its majority in the lower house for the first time since 2012 in the snap election that Ishiba immediately called, leaving him at the head of a minority government. The ruling party also faced internal divisions over his decision to exclude members implicated in scandals from candidate lists in the election. The Democratic Party for the People, formerly a rump party left over following mergers among mainstream opposition groupings, surged in this election, gaining significant attention for party leader Yuichiro Tamaki, while new far-right parties also made minor gains in the lower house for the first time.