Photo/Illutration Yukio Edano declares his candidacy for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s presidential election at a news conference on Aug. 21. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Yukio Edano, former chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said he intends to regain the presidency of the main opposition party in its election next month.

Edano, 60, made the announcement at a news conference on Aug. 21. He is the first person to formally challenge Kenta Izumi, 50, the current CDP president who has decided to seek re-election.

The election is scheduled for Sept. 23. Campaigning will officially kick off on Sept. 7.

Edano said Japan “has been in a period of stagnation for so long that it is called the lost 30 years.”

“I decided to run because I believe it is time to put an end to the old politics that created this situation and move forward into a new era,” he said.

He proposed a policy to build a “people-centered economy” that emphasizes redistribution.

Referring to the slush fund scandal in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Edano said the CDP “is a party that will clean up political corruption,” and that he is committed to political reform.

Regarding cooperation with other opposition parties in the next Lower House election, Edano said, “Rather than forming a uniform nationwide cooperative relationship with a specific party, I aim to encompass a broader range of public opinion, including those who have supported the LDP in the past but are now dismayed and angry with the current LDP.”

Edano has been elected 10 times to the Lower House from the Saitama 5th District.

When the Democratic Party of Japan was in power, Edano served in top posts, such as chief Cabinet secretary and economy minister.

He was “excluded” from the Party of Hope, which was headed by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, in the Lower House election in 2017.

Edano and other liberal-leaning politicians then formed the CDP and built it into the main opposition party.

He resigned as president to take responsibility for the CDP’s poor showing in the 2021 Lower House election.

Edano is an adviser to Sanctuary, the largest group in the CDP. It consists of about 30 liberal-leaning members and is expected to coordinate efforts to support Edano’s candidacy.

Some in the party have made moves to field former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 67, and Kenji Eda, 68, a former acting president of the CDP.

The winner of the CDP election will be in a position to challenge the victor of the LDP’s presidential election for the prime minister’s post in the next Lower House election.

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