5. A Costly Coalition: Kōmeitō’s Enduring Partnership with the LDP

This chapter provides an overview of Kōmeitō’s electoral performance since 2021, focusing on reasons for the party’s poor 2024 general election results. Our analysis shows that Kōmeitō has been shaped in recent years by adverse factors that include the aging of its main support base, the lay Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai, and the death of the Gakkai’s charismatic leader Ikeda Daisaku. Kōmeitō has also suffered significant costs by remaining a coalition partner to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has become the target of intense and lasting critique. Fallout from the LDP’s 2023 slush-fund scandal and public outrage following the 2022 assassination of Abe Shinzō affected Kōmeitō’s electoral performance. A once stable relationship between Kōmeitō and LDP leaders has worsened, exacerbating tensions within the coalition. Despite declining election returns, however, Kōmeitō remains a political force to be reckoned with, thanks to its support from Japan’s largest organized voting bloc and its vital role in guaranteeing the election of LDP candidates to the National Diet.