Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who this week founded a new political party, said Friday she will be selective in adding members from the moribund Democratic Part
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who this week founded a new political party, said Friday she will be selective in adding members from the moribund Democratic Party as candidates in next month’s Lower House election.
Koike and Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara met in the morning after Maehara got consent from his party Thursday to effectively disband, letting its members run with the upstart Kibo no To (Party of Hope), her new party, to mount a hasty but unified challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Oct. 22 election.
Koike said after the meeting that she received a list of members in the unpopular opposition party who want to join Kibo no To but has “no intention of taking them all on.”
“I want to narrow it down from various standpoints, like how well they can fit in with our policies,” the conservative governor said.
While the influx of candidates will allow the upstart party to compete in more electoral districts nationwide, Koike is likely wary of the DP’s sizable liberal wing and baggage from its turbulent first time in power as the Democratic Party of Japan, a three-year stint that ended in 2012.
Kibo no To founding member Goshi Hosono, formerly of the DP, said Thursday that new entrants will be required to share a “realistic” national security stance and a desire to amend the Constitution.
He said it “would be tough” to welcome anyone in favor of scrapping the divisive security laws recently enacted by the Abe administration to expand the types of missions the pacifist Self-Defense Forces can perform overseas.
