The name of the new church is ‘First Society’…
Koike announces that he will not run for office
A month before the general election, the new party rushed,
Similar to ‘Party of Hope’
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Governor Yuriko Koike (center) appeared to support the candidates for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on July 3, the last day of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election campaign. Governor Koike made a surprise appearance on the last day after he was hospitalized due to overwork just before the official election campaign started and did not volunteer. In this election, the Provincial First Association won two parties by two seats behind the Liberal Democratic Party. Tokyo = Kyodo AP Yonhap News
Ahead of next month’s general election in Japan (the House of Representatives election), Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s ‘Domin First Party’ will launch a new party ‘First Party’ to participate in the general election. The Metropolitan First Association is a local political party within the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly led by Governor Koike. As a result, Governor Koike once again emerged as an important factor in Japanese politics. The timing and method are very similar to the case of the establishment of the Party of Hope in September with the aim of the general election after winning the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election four years ago in the summer of 2017.
Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyman Chiharu Araki, the representative of the Metropolitan First Association, held a press conference on the 3rd and announced that he had decided to launch a new party, the First Association, to participate in the next House of Representatives election. Araki said that the name of the new party was decided in consultation with Governor Koike, who is currently serving as a special adviser to the Metropolitan First Association, and said that he would announce the candidates for the House of Representatives election later after going through a public offering process. However, Governor Koike said he would not run directly in the general election.
Similar to the founding of the ‘Party of Hope’ after a landslide victory in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election four years ago
The Metropolitan First Association is a local political faction founded by Koike Prefecture Governor, who was elected in the 2016 Tokyo Governor Election. In the 2017 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections, the Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide and emerged as the single largest party. It was expected to lose to the Liberal Democratic Party in the July election this year, but it still has strong influence, such as securing only two seats short of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and preventing the coalition from securing a majority.
It is similar to four years ago that this party created a new party for the general election just three months after the local election. After the dissolution of the House of Representatives, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a general election in October when he was cornered by a scandal about academic corruption. This time, it is similar to forming a new party in October, one month before the general election in November, after doing well in the July provincial election. However, at that time, voters who were disappointed with Governor Koike’s position that the Party of Hope would be excluded from the main opposition party and coalition unless they were conservative, such as in favor of constitutional amendment, turned their backs and lost the election, and their members were absorbed into the National Democratic Party and others.
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Governor Koike Yuriko (center) raises his fists during a press conference with the founding members of the new party ‘Party of Hope’ in Tokyo on September 27, 2017 (local time). Governor Koike served as the president of the Party of Hope at the time, but lost the election. Tokyo = AFP Yonhap News
Koike “I won’t run for office”… Bad news for the opposition
However, the difference is that while Governor Koike took the lead in creating the Party of Hope four years ago, this time, he apparently did not participate in the movement to establish the First Association and said that he had no plans to run for the general election. However, Araki said that he did not ask Koike to run for office, but expressed his desire to “consult in the future (with regard to the operation of the new party),” Kyodo News reported.
Meanwhile, as the LDP’s approval rating soared due to the effect of the September governor election, the opposition party, which had a hard fight in the November general election, created another bad news with the founding of the ‘First Party’. The Constitutional Democratic Party, the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Reiwa Shinsengumi recently signed a policy agreement with the Citizens’ Union and agreed to joint campaigns such as the unification of candidates, but a new competitor has arisen. Analysts say it is helping the LDP by splitting the opposition.
Meanwhile, Japanese media believe that Fumio Kishida, president of the LDP, who will take office on the 4th, will dissolve the House of Representatives on the 14th and hold a general election on the 7th or 14th of next month.
Tokyo = Jinju Choi correspondent pariscom@hankookilbo.com
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