Nippon Ishin no Kai sets sights on Tokyo election

March 26, 2017

Tokyo- The leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai, at a party convention in Tokyo on Saturday, expressed his resolve to gain more power for the opposition party through elections, including the closely watched Tokyo metropolitan assembly poll in July.

Highlighting the importance of the assembly election, which may be followed soon by an election of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, party leader and Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui said in a speech, “Let’s unify our strength to carry out politics to guide Japan in the right direction.”

Nippon Ishin currently plans to field six candidates, including one incumbent, for the metropolitan assembly election. It hopes to add more candidates.

At the convention, the party adopted its action policy for 2017, featuring the promotion of painful reforms, such as reductions in the number of Diet seats and pay cuts for national lawmakers.

The party also announced a pledge to slush the number of Tokyo assembly seats from the current 127 to 25.

It was the first time that Nippon Ishin has held a party convention in Tokyo since the party was launched as Osaka Ishin no Kai in the western Japan city in October 2015. Jiji Press