JAPAN TIMES


 

 
Riding a wave of popularity, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike plans to field some 40 candidates from her political group in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election slated for the summer, a source said.

A first list of candidates from the group, Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), will be announced this month at the earliest, the source said Friday.
Koike-backed candidates are expected to include students from her private political school, Kibo no Juku (School of Hope), and incumbent Tokyo assembly members.

On Saturday, the political school held examinations to screen students hoping to run in the next assembly election. About 1,600 people out of the school’s 4,000 took the written exam.

Based on the results of Saturday’s exam, Koike’s school will create a shortlist of some 200 people, narrowing them further down to 40 through campaign lectures and interviews by around March, according to media reports.

“I will keep all options open to help my reformist colleagues try and win victories,” Koike, who still belongs to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a regular news conference Friday.

In last July’s gubernatorial election, Koike ran as an independent and beat the LDP’s preferred candidate.

The LDP currently holds 57 of 127 assembly seats, excluding three occupied by members who left the LDP’s faction last week to file for a new faction. Koike has expressed a willingness to consider cooperating with the trio.

Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner in the national political arena, has 23 assembly seats.

Koike currently aims to control a majority force in the assembly, including through cooperation with Komeito, with which she is building friendly ties. She is expected to field candidates from her political group mainly in the constituencies of senior LDP members with whom she is in conflict.

On possible cooperation with Komeito and others, Koike said that the important thing is “whether it is confirmed that we are colleagues in promoting major reform in Tokyo.”

On Tuesday, Koike is scheduled to hold talks with LDP President and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, people familiar with the situation said. The meeting will be held at Koike’s request, they said.

The two are expected to exchange views on the assembly election, as well as on preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

By playing up her connection with Abe, Koike may be aiming to gain the upper hand over LDP assembly members. She served as an aide to Abe and as defense minister during his first stint as prime minister in 2006 and 2007.

“Based on the trust with Komeito so far, I hope to make our common ground clear in the metropolitan assembly election,” Koike said during a New Year’s greeting party at Komeito’s headquarters Friday.

“The metropolitan government is now in the spotlight,” Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said at the same event. “In the metropolitan assembly, Komeito has long been a key player in maintaining stability in the capital’s governance.”

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, who also attended the party, signaled an eagerness to mend fences with Komeito in the assembly, after Komeito members recently halted cooperation with their LDP counterparts.

“We hope to fight together by working closely (with Komeito) where we can,” Nikai said.