The effective sudden death of the nation’s largest opposition force could turn the Oct. 22 Lower House election into a two-way race between conservative forces: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and Kibo no To. Tokyo — Japan’s lower house was dissolved on Thursday ahead of an expected snap October 22 election being called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as he seeks to confirm his mandate in the face a rising challenge from a popular new conservative party. In a dramatic move sure to change the landscape of the nation’s politics, the center-left Democratic Party decided Thursday to effectively disband its Lower House caucus and join Kibo no To (Party of Hope), a new conservative party led by Tokyo Gov. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (third from right), who is also ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader, raises hands with coalition Komeito Party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi atop of campaign van at Tokyo’s Shibuya district in Tokyo September 28, 2017. "This will be a tough battle, but it’s all about how we will protect Japan, and the lives and peaceful existence of the Japanese people," Abe told a group of legislators. “She doesn’t actually have to win, but she has to inflict a bloody nose on Abe … If her party does better than expected, expect the long knives to come out in the LDP, and Abe could be ushered to the exit.”

Koike, at a news conference, denied speculation that she might run for parliament herself. Koike has also criticised Abe for risking a political vacuum by calling the snap poll at a time of rising regional tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes. The predecessor of Democratic Party, formally called the Democratic Party of Japan, was set up in 1996 with founding members including former prime ministers Naoto Kan and Yukio Hatoyama. Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara would propose that the party run no candidates in the election and let its members run under the Party of Hope flag, domestic media reports said.
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe dissolves the lower house of parliament prior to the October 22 election.