THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 27, 2024 at 18:37 JST
Renho announces her bid to become Tokyo governor at a news conference on May 27. (Jin Nishioka)
Renho, an Upper House member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said she will challenge incumbent Yuriko Koike for the Tokyo governor’s post.
The gubernatorial election, which will feature two of Japan’s best-known female politicians, will officially start on June 20, with voting held on July 7.
“I want the Koike administration, which has helped prolong the life of the Liberal Democratic Party, to be reset. It is my mission to lead it,” Renho, 56, said at a news conference on May 27.
Since February, the CDP and the Japanese Communist Party have been coordinating to field a unified candidate in the gubernatorial election. They decided on the well-known Renho to be their candidate.
Renho said she intends to run as an independent but will receive support from the opposition parties.
Incumbent Koike, 71, is expected to soon announce her candidacy for a third term. Although Koike has left the LDP, Renho already appears intent on criticizing Koike’s long connections to the ruling party whose popularity has dropped following a political fund scandal.
“I will never forgive lawmakers (who received) slush fund money and the LDP whose politics (is linked to) money,” Renho said. “I want to be close to the feelings of taxpayers and the people of Tokyo, who should be considered more than anyone else. I want to take an anti-LDP and non-Koike stance.
“I want to make a break with old politics and create a metropolitan government that allocates the budget to policies that are truly necessary.”
Renho graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University and worked as a newscaster. In 2004, she was first elected to the Upper House from the former Democratic Party of Japan. She also led the successor to the DPJ.
She is currently serving her fourth term, representing the Tokyo electoral district.
Shinji Ishimaru, 41, mayor of Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, has announced he will run in the Tokyo gubernatorial election.
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