Japan’s 1-party era faces ‘unprecedented’ threat from new centrist alliance

Japan is entering one of its most unpredictable election cycles in decades after the surprise formation of a new centrist political alliance that could redefine the balance of power and potentially restore a two-party system to the country’s long-stagnant political landscape. On Thursday, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and Komeito, once a loyal coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, announced they would merge into a new force called the Centrist Reform...