Koike declines request to run in general election

October 5, 2017

TOKYO- Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, leader of the Party of Hope, on Thursday declined a request by her counterpart in the Democratic Party, Seiji Maehara, that she run in the Oct. 22 House of Representatives election.

During their talks in Tokyo, Koike said she will discuss with other party founding members the question of who the party should endorse as its candidate for prime minister.

The two leaders reaffirmed their cooperation in the battle to defeat Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party, Koike told reporters after the talks.

Regarding her party's selection of the prime minister candidate, Koike noted that in 1994, the LDP chose Tomiichi Murayama, then leader of a socialist party now called the Social Democratic Party, as prime minister. Jiji Press