Photo/Illutration Shinji Ishimaru explains at a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 26 how many people applied to run as candidates for his new party, Saisei no Michi, in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in June. (Naoki Nakayama)

More than 1,000 people have applied to run under the banner of new regional political party Saisei no Michi (The Path to Rebirth) in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, party founder Shinji Ishimaru said.

Ishimaru, 42, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 26 that nearly 90 percent of the 1,128 applicants are men, with the largest age group consisting of those in their 40s.

Among them is a former mayor of Tomigusuku, Okinawa Prefecture.

The election is set for June 22, with 127 assembly seats up for grabs. Official campaigning will kick off on June 13.

Saisei no Michi aims to field up to 60 candidates across all 42 electoral districts following an applicant selection process involving document screening, written tests and interviews.

The initial document screening will narrow the field to 360 candidates, who will then take an online aptitude test. Around 120 of them will advance to the next stage.

After further interviews, the final list of candidates for the election will be revealed between late March and mid-April.

Ishimaru, a former mayor of Akitakata in Hiroshima Prefecture, was a surprise runner-up in the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July last year. He set up Saisei no Michi in January.

Ishimaru himself does not plan to run in the assembly election.

His party will not set specific policy goals for the campaign, and it will limit its assembly members to two terms, or eight years, in office.

Other parties are also in the process of selecting their candidates.

(This article was written by Eiichiro Nakamura and Naoki Nakayama.)

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