Japan Press Weekly

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2017 September 20 - 26 [POLITICS]

Tokyo governor founds national political party

Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko on September 25 held a press conference at the Tokyo metropolitan government office and announced that she will head a new national political party, the Hope Party.

Explaining the reason for the creation of a political party at the national level, Governor Koike said that she needs to be involved in national politics in order to further refine and speedily implement her policies. She hinted at seeking cooperation with the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

Governor Koike stated that her party will work to revise the Constitution, including Article 9. She stressed that discussions on constitutional revisions should not be put off.

Later on the same day, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira said to the press that the Hope Party is a supplementary force of the Abe government as shown by the fact that the party’s top executives, Governor Koike and her close ally Wakasa Masaru, are former LDP lawmakers who supported the enactment of the war laws and the conspiracy law.

Asked about the impact of the Hope Party’s presence in next month’s general election campaign, JCP Koike stated, “It will not change the political landscape in the election.” Reiterating that the Tokyo governor’s party is no more than an LDP supplementary force, JCP Koike pointed out that the projected general election will be a head-on battle between the forces, including her party, backing the Abe regime and the anti-Abe forces.