Maehara interested in cooperation with Koike-linked new party

August 23, 2017

TOKYO- Seiji Maehara, one of the two candidates in the leadership election of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party, indicated Wednesday his willingness to explore opportunities to cooperate with a new political party likely to be established by a lawmaker close to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

"We have to consider cooperating with other political forces if they have philosophies and policies we can agree on," Maehara, former foreign minister, said in an interview.

The Koike aide, Masaru Wakasa, an independent lawmaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, aims to form a new political party this year.

Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites first group), effectively led by Koike, won a landslide victory in the July 2 Tokyo metropolitan assembly election.

In a separate interview, the other candidate in the DP leadership race, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, reiterated his willingness to continue cooperating with three other existing opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party.

Maehara took a negative stance on adjusting candidates with the JCP in the next Lower House election. At the same time, he said, "We have to make adjustments with the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party," referring to the other two opposition parties.

Edano said the DP should promote the unification of candidates with the three opposition parties, claiming that it should abide by the four-party agreement on election cooperation.

"The public won't place trust in a party that cannot keep an agreement even though there has been no change in the preconditions," Edano said.

Maehara said the DP should maintain and strengthen its cooperative ties with the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, the party's largest supporter.

Edano, an advocate of zero dependence on nuclear power, said he will make efforts to seek understanding of his policy from Rengo. The labor group supports the restart of nuclear power reactors.

Maehara said he will seek to abolish the national security laws allowing the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense. Jiji Press