Japanese ex-PM Noda forms new opposition group at lower house of parliament

TOKYO - Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who was in office between 2011 and 2012 under the now defunct Democratic Party of Japan, formed a new opposition group at the lower house of parliament Wednesday with six other lawmakers.

"We have to take a toll on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and put an end to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration in the election," Noda said in a press conference on the matter, referring to the current prime minister's lengthy time at the helm and his and the LDP's growing autonomy.

Noda said he saw his new in-house group, the name of which translates from Japanese to mean "national council for revamping the social security system", as serving to bridge the gap between the two major opposition parties, prior to this summer's upper house election.

Part of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) long reign under Abe is in part because there, of late, has been no opposition party or camp that can numerically challenge the LDP in the lower house of Japan's bicameral parliament.

Due to the LDP's super-majority in parliament, the party can effectively move legislation, contentious or otherwise, from lower to upper house and into law, without any recourse or deliberation needed from the opposition camp, political watchers here have said.

Noda, therefore, is pushing for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and the Democratic Party for the People, both parties originated from Noda's former Democratic Party of Japan, to become reunited and find more cohesion to better stand against the LDP and its unilateral brand of politics.