INTERVIEW: Koizumi Calls Bigger Ruling Bloc “Best Option”

Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, a candidate in the Liberal Democratic Party’s upcoming leadership election, has said that expanding the ruling coalition, currently made up of the LDP and Komeito, is the “best option.” Koizumi and four other LDP lawmakers are vying in Saturday’s election to pick a new party president to succeed Shigeru Ishiba, also the outgoing prime minister. In an interview with media outlets including Jiji Press on Tuesday, Koizumi was asked about how he plans to address the current situation in which the LDP-Komeito pair lacks a majority in both chambers of parliament if he becomes LDP chief and prime minister of Japan. “I think (expanding) the coalition is the best option,” he said. Still, Koizumi said, “I’m not limiting” the scope of parties that would join the ruling bloc. “We need to hold broad discussions,” he added, indicating that he wants to advance policy talks with opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People. Noting that he has personal ties with members of the CDP, Nippon Ishin and the DPFP, Koizumi said that the focal point in the possible discussions on expanding the coalition will be “how we can talk about concrete cooperation from the perspective of achieving what the people want.” On the proposed establishment of a secondary capital of Japan, which is among the conditions set by Nippon Ishin for joining the ruling camp, Koizumi said, “I do share the feeling that we need to create a decentralized governing system.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]