Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike, whose opposition Party of Hope came a distant third to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party in a general election last month, said on Tuesday she would quit as party co-leader. Koike, a former ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker sometimes mentioned as a
Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike, whose opposition Party of Hope came a distant third to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party in a general election last month, said on Tuesday she would quit as party co-leader.
Koike, a former ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker sometimes mentioned as a possible first female Japanese prime minister, launched the party to great fanfare ahead of the Oct 22 lower house election and absorbed a big chunk of the failed opposition Democratic Party.
But despite her bid to create what she called a “reformist, conservative” rival to Abe’s LDP, Koike’s party won only 51 seats in the 465-member lower house.
That tally was not only dwarfed by the LDP’s 283 seats but also lagged the 54 seats taken by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), a group hastily formed by liberal-leaning former Democratic Party members.
