ABSTRACT
After recovering power in 2012, the LDP has continued to be victorious in national elections. This has been underpinned by low voter turn-out and the fragmentation of the opposition parties. Using both its own deep support base and electoral cooperation with the Kōmeitō, the LDP has been able to steadily accumulate wins. Meanwhile, due to factors such as political reform, nonpartisan votes are becoming increasingly important. In order to respond to this, the LDP has moved to choose popular leaders in party presidential elections, it has reformed its communications strategy and introduced the open recruitment of candidates. As this has continued, there has come to be a two-tier structure amongst the LDP’s Diet membership. In one tier, stand hereditary Diet members, who possess robust personal support organisations and in the other found those who have been elected through the open recruitment system or female candidates, who rely on fluid nonpartisan votes.
