Japan Press Weekly

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2015 September 16 - 29 [POLITICS]

Executives of a conservative ‘opposition’ party rejoin LDP

Executives and parliamentarians of the Party for Future Generations (PFG) have one after another joined or rejoined the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The LDP chapter in Gifu Prefecture on September 28 announced that the chapter received a petition seeking to return to the LDP from Fujii Takao, a PFG advisor and the former Transport Minister. The chapter says it decided to reinstate Fujii.

Three days prior to this, PFG Chairperson Hiranuma Tekeo and PFG Advisor Sonoda Hiroyuki, both House of Representatives members, also resigned from the party. They will reportedly go back to the LDP where they were previously.

Furthermore, former PFG Secretary-General Yamada Hiroshi will run as an LDP candidate for the House of Councilors proportional representation election next summer. Yamada said in a tweet that his candidacy on the LDP ticket was a request from Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

The PFG is a rightist party which supported the LDP/Komei-backed security legislation in the latest session of the Diet. The recent move of ex-PFG lawmakers participating in the LDP in succession shows that the PFG was not an “opposition” party in the first place but another temporary splinter from the LDP.