Komeito

Komeito (Japanese: 公明党, Hepburn: Kōmeitō), formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan affiliated with the Soka Gakkai religious movement. It is generally considered centrist. From 1999 to 2009 and from 2012 to 2025, it served in government as the junior coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Komeito was founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. In 1993 and 1994, Komeito joined the non-LDP governments of Morihiro Hosokawa and Tsutomu Hata. With the collapse of the Hata government in 1994, Komeito split into the New Kōmei Party and Kōmei; the New Kōmei Party merged with other smaller opposition parties to establish the New Frontier Party (NFP). After the dissolution of the NFP in 1997, some former New Kōmei Party established the New Peace Party, which merged with Kōmei in 1998 to establish the New Komeito. In 1999, the party entered into a coalition with LDP, serving in the government until the coalition lost power in 2009. In 2012, the coalition regained power. In 2014, the party changed its English name back to Komeito. In 2025, Komeito formally withdrew from the ruling coalition, ending its 26-year alliance with the LDP. In 2026, Komeito merged with the Constitutional Democratic Party in the House of Representatives to form the Centrist Reform Alliance in advance of the 2026 general election; however the party still caucuses as Komeito in the House of Councillors and in local elections. A self-proclaimed party of "humanitarian socialism", Komeito has been described as being closely affiliated with Soka Gakkai. During its alliance with the LDP, Komeito acted as a moderating force over security and military policies. In foreign policy, the party advocates for a more pacifist diplomacy and closer relations with China. Toshiko Takeya has...