key takeaways
- The ruling parties and opposition Ishin no Kai announced an agreement on 21 February to include key Ishin proposals in a revised budget, which will safeguard its passage before the end of the fiscal year.
- The budget deal is an important victory for Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, who showed he could manage the “hung parliament,” and Ishin no Kai, which secured a few concessions and signaled that it remains an important player.
- The outlook is more mixed for the Democratic Party for the People — which is gambling that it can turn its failure at the negotiating table into victory at the ballot box — and the Constitutional Democratic Party, which got outmaneuvered by both the ruling parties and Ishin no Kai.