Tokyo, Feb. 10 -- The Centrist Reform Alliance secured just 49 seats in Sunday's House of Representatives election, marking the lowest total for a main opposition party in Japan in the postwar era, according to Kyodo News.

Formed in January through the merger of lower house members from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Komeito party, the alliance's poor performance has left it without the numbers required to introduce budget-related bills or move a no-confidence resolution against the Cabinet.

Placing the setback in perspective, Kyodo News reported that the alliance's seat tally fell sharply from 167 previously.

While it secured nearly half as many votes as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party in...