# 2021 Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan presidential election

The 2021 Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan presidential election took place on 30 November 2021 to elect the next president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan after the inaugural leader of the party, Yukio Edano, announced his intention to resign as party leader citing the party's poor performance in the 2021 general election.

## Background

Founded in October 2017 as a split from the Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan achieved the status of the opposition's largest force after the 2017 general election, when it became the second largest party in the Diet, with 55 seats in the House of Representatives. In September 2020, the party was re-established following a merger with most of the DPP and SDP caucuses, and some independent lawmakers. After the merger, the number of seats rose to 110.
In order to increase the weight of the opposition, the CDP decided to establish joint candidacies with three other progressive parties (JCP, SDP and Reiwa Shinsengumi) in most of the electoral districts for the 2021 general election. Although the cooperation strategy and a slight increase in votes for the party had led to an increase in the seats obtained compared to 2017 (from 55 to 96), these were still inferior to the number of seats held by the party before the vote (110). Furthermore, the majority of polls predicted better results for the CDP. Therefore, Yukio Edano decided to step down, so that a new leadership could reorganize the party in view of the elections for the Upper House in the summer of 2022.

## Timeline
### 2021

* 2 November – Yukio Edano announces his resignation as party president.
* 13 November – Party officials announce the election will be held on 30 November 2021.
* 17 November - Kenta Izumi, Seiji Osaka and Chinami Nishimura announced their candidacies.
* 18 November - Junya Ogawa announced his candidacy.
* 19 November – Campaign officially began.
* 22 November – The first of three public debate between the leadership candidates was held.
* 30 November - The leadership election was held, in which Kenta Izumi won.

## Candidates

| Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Current position | Party faction | Electoral district |
| Kenta Izumi | (1974-07-29)29 July 1974 (age 47) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2003) Previous offices held Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet Office (2009–2010) | Shin Seiken Kenkyūkai (Izumi) | Kyoto 3rd district |
| Seiji Osaka | (1959-04-27)27 April 1959 (age 62) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2005) Previous offices held Mayor of Niseko, Hokkaido (1994-2005) Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for local activation (2009-2010) Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications (2010-2011) | Sanctuary (Kondō) | Hokkaido 8th district |
| Chinami Nishimura | (1967-01-13)13 January 1967 (age 54) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2003) Previous offices held Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (2009–2010) State Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (2011–2012) | Kuni no Katachi Kenkyūkai (Kan) | Niigata 1st district |
| Junya Ogawa | (1971-04-18)18 April 1971 (age 50) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2005) Previous offices held Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications (2009–2010) | Sanctuary (Kondō) | Kagawa-1st |

### Declined

* Hiroshi Ogushi, member of the House of Representatives for Saga 2nd district; former member of the House of Representatives for Kyushu PR (2005–2009; 2012–2017) (endorsed Ogawa)
| Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Current position | Party faction | Electoral district |
| Hiroshi Ogushi | (1965-08-31)31 August 1965 (age 56) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2005) Previous offices held Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Finance (2009–2010) Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet Office (2011–2012) Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Reconstruction (2012) Special Advisor to the Prime Minister (2012) | | Saga 2nd district |

### Recommenders

List of recommenders :
| Candidate | Seiji Osaka | Junya Ogawa | Kenta Izumi | Chinami Nishimura |
| Recommenders | Kaori IshikawaKureha OtsukiShoichi KondoKaname TsutsumiDaiki MichishitaTatsumaru YamaokaMichiyoshi YunokiYoshifu AritaTakashi EsakiMasahito OzawaKenji KatsubeMakiko KishiYoshitaka SaitoMaiko TajimaMasayoshi NataniyaShinkun HakuYoshio HachiroShunichi MizuokaTakashi MoriyaTadatomo Yoshida | Yoichiro AoyagiShunsuke ItoShuji InatomiHiroshi OgushiSoichiro OkunoTakayuki OchiaiSaori KamataMakiko KikutaKentaro GenmaKazuya KondoShu SakuraiTakeshi ShinaYoichi ShiraishiYosuke SuzukiKaname TajimaYoshio TezukaManabu TeradaKatsuhito NakajimaKazuma NakataniHajime YatagawaShunji YuharaHiroyuki KonishiAyaka ShiomuraHiroyuki NagahamaKuniyoshi Noda | Yamato AoyamaYutaka AraiNobuhiko IsakaTakeshi KozuYuichi GotoKoji SatoGo ShinoharaMitsu ShimojoSeiichi SuetsuguYoshinori SuematsuHisashi TokunagaTakeshi NomaAkio FukudaSumio MabuchiToshikazu MoritaKatsuhiko YamadaKazunori YamanoiTsunehiko YoshidaEiji KidoguchiYukimasa KogaMasayo TanabuJiro HataHiroe MakiyamaShinji MorimotoTakanori Yokosawa | Tomoko AbeMasako OkawaraAkiko OkamotoNobuhiro KoyamaNaoto KanTakashi ShinoharaMasaharu NakagawaHiroyuki MoriyamaMakoto YamazakiHarumi YoshidaYuki WasedaSo WatanabeNoriko IshigakiTaiga IshikawaMichihiro IshibashiSakura UchikoshiRyohei KawataHideya SugioHiroto KumagaiYuichi Mayama |

## Opinion polls

| Fieldwork date | Polling firm | Sample size | Kenta Izumi | Seiji Osaka | Chinami Nishimura | Junya Ogawa | Hiroshi Ogushi | Kenji Eda | Sumio Mabuchi | Kōichirō Genba | Renhō | Akira Nagatsuma | Katsuya Okada | Others | NOT/ UD/NA |
| 20–21 Nov 2021 | ANN | 1,031 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 61 |
| 10–11 Nov 2021 | Kyodo News | 520 | 8.1 | – | 3.6 | 6.7 | 2.4 | – | 7.2 | 6.7 | – | – | – | 5.9 | 59.4 |
| 10–11 Nov 2021 | Nikkei/TV Tokyo | 852 | 3 | 2 | – | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 11 | 7 | – | 44 |

## Results

An extraordinary party convention was held at a hotel in Tokyo on the afternoon of November 30. Following the announcement of the results of the "local vote" by local lawmakers, party members and supporters, which was closed on the 29th, parliamentarians and prospective official candidates voted.
From the first round of the vote, Izumi was 1st (189 points), Osaka was 2nd (148 points), Ogawa was 3rd (133 points), and Nishimura was 4th (102 points). None of the four candidates reached the majority of 572 votes in total, so Izumi and Osaka advanced to the final vote of the top two. As a result of a final vote by a member of parliament, prospective official candidate, and representatives from 47 prefectures, Izumi, who got 205 points, defeated Osaka, who got 128 points, and was elected as the new leader of the party.
Full result :
| Candidate |
| Candidate | Diet members | Diet members | Diet candidates | Diet candidates | Local assembly members | Local assembly members | Local assembly members | Party members | Party members | Party members | Prefectural chapters | Prefectural chapters | Total | Total | Total |
| Candidate | Votes | % | Votes | % | Popular votes | Allocated votes | % | Popular votes | Allocated votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | Votes | % |
| 1st Round |
| Kenta Izumi | 94 | 33.6% | 2 | 33.3% | 369 | 46 | 32.2% | 15,200 | 47 | 32.9% | N/A | N/A | 189 | | 33.0% |
| Seiji Osaka | 58 | 20.7% | 4 | 66.7% | 385 | 48 | 33.6% | 12,411 | 38 | 26.6% | N/A | N/A | 148 | | 25.9% |
| Junya Ogawa | 72 | 25.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 219 | 27 | 18.9% | 10,912 | 34 | 23.8% | N/A | N/A | 133 | | 23.3% |
| Chinami Nishimura | 56 | 20.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 183 | 22 | 15.4% | 7,666 | 24 | 16.8% | N/A | N/A | 102 | | 17.8% |
| Total | 280 | 100.0% | 6 | 100.0% | 1,156 | 143 | 100.0% | 46,189 | 143 | 100.0% | | | 572 | | 100.0% |
| 2nd Round |
| Kenta Izumi | 168 | 60.0% | 2 | 33.3% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 35 | 74.5% | 205 | | 61.6% |
| Seiji Osaka | 112 | 40.0% | 4 | 66.7% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 12 | 25.5% | 128 | | 38.4% |
| Junya Ogawa | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Chinami Nishimura | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Total | 280 | 100.0% | 6 | 100.0% | | | | | | | 47 | 100.0% | 333 | | 100.0% |