With the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party, the No. 2 opposition, agreeing to form a coalition government, it has become all but certain that Takaichi Sanae, the LDP president, will take office as prime minister. Because the Japan Innovation Party is regarded as hardline conservative, observers expect the new government to shift to the right.
On Oct. 19, Kyodo News reported that President Takaichi and Yoshimura Hirofumi, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, are scheduled to sign a coalition agreement on Oct. 20. Lawmakers of the Innovation Party will vote for President Takaichi in the prime minister designation election set for Oct. 21, and in that case President Takaichi would be able to secure 233 seats, a majority of the total.
Lawmakers of the Innovation Party plan to form a coalition in an "outside-the-cabinet" format, cooperating from outside the Cabinet and considering entering the Cabinet when there is progress in implementing policies. Generally, outside-the-cabinet cooperation is a looser arrangement than inside-the-cabinet cooperation, and Komeito, which declared a break with the LDP on Oct. 10, had cooperated inside the Cabinet under the Ishiba Shigeru Cabinet.
Earlier, on Oct. 16, President Takaichi asked them to join the Cabinet, but within the Innovation Party, opinions reportedly leaned toward "it is fine to enter the Cabinet after watching progress on policies." The Innovation Party has called for political reforms such as a 10% cut in the number of Diet seats and the abolition of corporate and organization donations.
Accordingly, President Takaichi is expected not to appoint Innovation Party lawmakers as ministers, as Vice Minister-level parliamentary vice-ministers, or as political appointees equivalent to deputy minister when the Cabinet is launched.
Instead, President Takaichi is said to be planning to appoint Endo Takashi, the Innovation Party's Diet Affairs Committee chair, as a special adviser to the prime minister. A special adviser to the prime minister has an office in the prime minister's residence and advises the prime minister on policy formulation and related matters.