S/ Fujita Fumitake, Co-Representative, Nippon Ishin / In tomorrow’s prime minister designation vote, we have decided to write the name of LDP President Takaichi Sanae on the ballot from the first round. As for the reduction of parliamentary seats, we have put in writing that 10 percent of the House of Representatives seats will be cut during the extraordinary Diet session starting tomorrow.

Fujita Fumitake, the co-representative of Nippon Ishin no Kai, said the party has agreed to form a coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

He noted that his group, also known as the Japan Innovation Party, was able to include in a written coalition agreement with the LDP a clause that says the seats in the lower house will be reduced by 10 percent by the end of the extra Diet session through December.

Fujita said the LDP also agreed to tackle two other key issues for Ishin.

One is the proposed ban on corporate and organizational donations, to which the LDP agreed to discuss the matter while aiming to implement related measures by the end of Takaichi’s term as LDP leader until September 2027.

Concerning Ishin’s request to eliminate consumption tax for food items, the two parties agreed to establish a new discussion framework.

The LDP has been scrambling to remain in power after the Komeito party left its 26-year-old partnership shortly after Takaichi became the LDP’s first female president in early October.

With Ishin agreeing to vote for Takaichi in the election in parliament for Japan’s next prime minister on October 21, she is likely to become the country’s first female leader.