Tokyo governor won’t contest general election

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(Asia Today Thursday 28 September 2017)

Tokyo governor won’t contest general election

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. Photo: AP

I think it must be rather difficult for Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (picture), who bears the heavy

responsibility of being the leader of the 10 million people (of Tokyo), to serve as the head

of a national political party.  Mr Yoshihide Suga Chief Cabinet Secretary

Published: 4:00 AM, September 28, 2017

TOKYO — Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike yesterday formally launched a new party promising conservative reform, stepping up her challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and adding to uncertainty about the outlook for a general election widely expected next month.

But the popular former ruling party lawmaker, who is already upstaging Mr Abe in the media and complicating forecasts, said she herself would not seek a seat in Parliament’s lower house now.

Mr Abe said on Monday he would call the snap election to reset his mandate, betting that his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and junior coalition party can keep their majority in Parliament’s lower house, where they hold a two-thirds “super majority”.

Mr Abe will dissolve the lower house today for a vote expected on Oct 22.

At a news conference launching her “Party of Hope”, Ms Koike repeated promises to form a party without ties to vested interests in order to “reset Japan”.

“I am establishing this Party of Hope to change Japan,” said Ms Koike, a former defence minister who quit the LDP earlier this year. “We can change Japan because we are without fetters. And if Japan does not change, its international competitiveness and national security are at risk.”

A publicity video showed her walking towards a bright light, with the slogan: “Should we just put up with things, or work together to try to change them?”

Alongside her as founder members were 14 lawmakers, many of whom have defected from parties including the LDP and the main opposition Democratic Party. The group aims to run candidates all over the country.

“They have all sorts of flotsam and jetsam,” said Mr Steven Reed, a professor of political science at Chuo University in Tokyo.

“A lot depends on how good their flotsam and jetsam is. Do they have politicians with strong support groups who can win a seat?”

Previous attempts to form a third political force have quickly faded, or turned into local parties, he added.

There had been speculation that Ms Koike would choose to run in the election herself, but she said she would remain in her position as governor.

The Abe administration’s top spokesman expressed scepticism about Ms Koike’s ability to manage both jobs at once.

“I think it must be rather difficult for the governor, who bears the heavy responsibility of being the leader of the 10 million people (of Tokyo), to serve as the head of a national political party,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

“We want to see what sort of realistic policies (the new party) will put forward under its slogans, and whether all its members will be able to agree with those policies,” said Mr Suga.

Ms Koike’s new party is staking out a policy space similar to that of the conservative LDP and the right-wing of the Democratic Party, a mixture of conservatives and liberals.

But her calls for open government, a freeze on a planned sales tax hike from 2019, an end to nuclear power and a promise to promote diversity give it a more populist tinge.

Ms Koike recently held talks with newly installed Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara and veteran lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the minor opposition Liberal Party, sources told Kyodo News yesterday.

The Democratic Party is split on whether to work in coordination with the new party or treat it as an adversary, with the conservative-leaning Mr Maehara seeking the former with an eye on merging with the Liberal Party.

The Democrats have been struggling with single-digit support rates and several members have defected to run for Ms Koike’s new party.

Ms Koike, 65, defied the LDP to run successfully for the Tokyo governorship a year ago and fielded candidates who routed the LDP in an election for the metropolitan assembly in July.

Mr Abe’s decision to go to the polls is seen as an effort to take advantage of confusion in the opposition camp and an uptick in his support rates, which have rebounded to about 50 per cent amid jitters over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

His support had fallen below 30 per cent in July due to suspected cronyism scandals. AGENCIES