More prefectural chapters of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) oppose than support the opposition party’s possible merger into the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), a Jiji Press survey showed Wednesday.

In the survey of senior prefectural chapter officials earlier this month, 15 chapters expressed opposition, outnumbering the seven chapters that showed support, while 25 chapters did not answer.

Six months ago, the CRA was formed by House of Representatives lawmakers from the CDP and Komeito. After the new party suffered a crushing defeat in the Lower House election in February, many of the CDP’s local organizations seem reluctant to join the CRA.