Abstract: Factional politics used to be synonymous with Japanese politics, and the Liberal Democratic Party was also known as “factional coalition”. During the longterm independent ruling of the Liberal Democratic Party (1955 to 1993), the presidential election was conducted by faction. Factions were tools for presidential candidates to canvass votes or win the majority. It is an “abnormal state” for a nonfactional leader to serve as president—emergency temporary measures by the Liberal Democratic Party. Under the parallel electoral system of proportional representation in small electoral districts, the factional politics of the Liberal Democratic Party shows different characteristics from those under the electoral district system—the function of factions and their binding force are significantly weakened. Especially in the presidential election, the faction has been reduced from “the protagonist” to “a supporting role”. It has become a “new normal” for a nonfactional leader to become president, and a faction leader to become president is an anomaly. Regardless of the future development trend of LDP factional politics, its invariable logic is it is still governed by the rules of the invisible political game.

Key words: Japanese politics, Liberal Democratic Party , presidential election, factional politics