Tokyo’s governor takes on Japan’s old-boy network, but denies run for PM
TOKYO: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is challenging Japan’s old- boy network in the capital, where she thrashed a ruling party rival to win her post and now aims to lead reformminded candidates to victory in a city-wide July election.
A popular former TV announcer who speaks Arabic and English, Koike is the leader of a megametropolis with an economy bigger than Holland’s and a budget on par with Sweden’s - and her reformist image has some politicians betting she could become Japan’s first female premier in a few years.
For now, the former defence minister says her sights are set firmly on a July 2 Tokyo metropolitan assembly poll, where she’s targeting a majority for her fledgling ‘ Tokyo Citizens First’ party and its allies.
Koike, in an interview with Reuters, compared herself to French President Emmanuel Macron, whose election marked a meteoric rise and whose party now needs a majority in June parliamentary elections so he can carry out reforms.
“I am doing the same - trying to increase the new assembly members who aspire to reform,” she said. “Even if a (new) top leader is chosen, reforms will not progress if the legislature does not change.”
Koike, who has made good governance a key policy plank after her two predecessors quit over scandals, has already caused a crack in Abe’s ruling bloc by tying up with the Komeito party, the LDP’s junior national-level partner, for the local poll.
After nearly a year in office, her support ratings are still above 60 percent, prompting defections from a struggling opposition Democratic Party and from the LDP. — Reuters