Maehara leads Edano in support from DP chapters: Jiji poll

August 27, 2017

TOKYO- Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has secured support from 14 Democratic Party prefectural chapters in the party's presidential race, against 10 for his sole opponent, Yukio Edano, a Jiji Press survey showed Saturday.

In the survey, conducted on prefectural chapter executives for five days through Friday, however, nearly half, or 23 chapters, of the main opposition party's regional chapters in the country's 47 prefectures did not say who to vote for in the election.

With so many chapters still undecided, the battle between Maehara, 55, and Edano, a 53-year-old former chief cabinet secretary, is expected to heat up, given the heavy weight of regional votes.

In the election, votes from the party's 1,500 local assembly members and 230,000 party supporters and members across the country account for 440 of the total 851 points. The remainder is allocated to the party's Diet members and people set to be fielded as national election candidates.

Maehara is leading Edano also in support from DP lawmakers. About 80 of the party's 142 Diet members have indicated their support for Maehara.

But the Diet members' voting action may be affected by the results of the regional votes, which will be announced before the Diet members cast their ballots on Friday.

Of the 14 prefectural chapters in favor of Maehara, many said they support his economic and social security policies. "His policies are realistic," a Kanagawa prefectural chapter executive said.

The remaining 13 were the chapters of Iwate, Akita, Gifu, Shizuoka, Shiga, Osaka, Hyogo, Shimane, Okayama, Tokushima, Ehime, Nagasaki and Kyoto, which is his home turf.

Chapters endorsing Edano hailed his firm stand against the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "He has a clear vision to counter the ruling Liberal Democratic Party," said an executive of the chapter of Tochigi, where Edano was born.

The other supporters for Edano were the chapters of Miyagi, Gunma, Toyama, Yamanashi, Mie, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Saitama, which has his national electoral district. Jiji Press