Creating new party one option: DP Edano

October 1, 2017

TOKYO- Yukio Edano, deputy president of the Democratic Party, offered the view Sunday that one option is creating a new party toward the Oct. 22 House of Representatives election.

"If the DP's philosophy and policies are to change, a decision can be made from various options," Edano said, indicating the possibility of launching a liberal party to bring together candidates who do not want to run in the election from Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's new conservative party Kibo no To (Party of Hope).

Edano made the remark to reporters before meeting with DP chief Seiji Maehara to receive explanations about progress in Maehara's negotiations with the Kibo no To side on the DP's effective merger with Koike's party, launched last week.

Koike's stance of not endorsing DP members as her party's official candidates unless they support the new security laws and the party's policy of revising the Constitution has drawn strong backlash from liberal members of the DP.

Some DP members call for establishing a new party to allow anti-Kibo no To candidates in the Lower House election can run not only from constituencies but under the proportional representation system.

"A final decision will be made after the situation is fully assessed," Edano said. Jiji Press