Ogawa, Shina to Run for Centrist Party Leader

Tokyo, Feb. 11 (Jiji Press)–Junya Ogawa and Takeshi Shina, former members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, expressed their intentions on Wednesday to run in a leadership election of the Centrist Reform Alliance, which was formed by the CDP and Komeito last month. Meanwhile, former CDP leader Kenta Izumi told reporters that he will not run in the party leadership election. On Wednesday, the centrist party held a general meeting of its lawmakers following its crushing defeat in Sunday’s House of Representatives election. It decided to hold the leadership election on Friday. The current party leadership initially planned to require candidates to gather 10 nominations from among the party’s 49 lawmakers, but this plan was scrapped following complaints from party members. The party’s co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito, reiterated their resignations to take responsibility for the election defeat. “I will risk my career as we’re in the toughest and hardest time,” Ogawa told reporters. “I want to give shape to the party’s ideas,” including its basic policies on nuclear energy and national security, said the 54-year-old former CDP secretary-general. Referring to the centrist party’s election defeat, Shina, 59, noted, “The party was not going in the wrong direction, but it was not prepared.” The former internal affairs ministry bureaucrat vowed to “make every effort to gain public support.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]