Koike inks deal with opposition party ahead of Japan poll

TOKYO: Popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, whose fledgling conservative party poses a growing challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc, agreed on Saturday to cooperate in next month’s election with a small party based in western Japan.

The deal potentially broadens the geographic reach of Koike’s new Party of Hope, formally launched just this week, ahead of the October 22 poll. Abe called the election hoping to keep his conservative Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition’s majority in parliament’s lower house, where it had a twothirds “super” majority before dissolution.

But Koike has upended the political landscape with her new party and some Japanese believe she could become the country’s first female premier.

Koike and Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui, who heads the small conservative Japan Innovation Party, announced the deal to coordinate candidates in Tokyo and Osaka, western Japan, at a news conference with Hideaki Omura, governor of Aichi prefecture in central Japan and the head of a tiny local party.

“In a situation where ‘ Abenomics’ is stalled, we must proceed with reform in each region,” Koike told the joint news conference in Osaka, referring to Abe’s economic policies.

“We have agreed to mutually cooperate in the coming election with those who share that aspiration,” she added.

Koike’s Party of Hope is already cannibalising the failed main opposition Democratic Party. Full story @ timesofoman.com/world