TOKYO GOVERNOR TO CHALLENGE PM SHINZO ABE WITH NEW PARTY
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Monday said she will lead a new national party that will challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a general election expected to be called for next month.
Ms Koike, who named her new political group the Party of Hope, has emerged as a serious threat to Mr Abe after she won the Tokyo governorship a year ago and in July fielded candidates who routed the LDP in elections for the metropolitan assembly.
“I want the Japanese people to believe that there is hope for tomorrow,” she said at a televised press conference.