Ogawa Elected New Leader of Centrist Reform Alliance

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese opposition Centrist Reform Alliance on Friday elected Junya Ogawa, former secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, as its new leader. Ogawa, 54, gained 27 of the votes cast by the new party’s 49 House of Representatives lawmakers, compared with 22 votes for his sole opponent, Takeshi Shina, 59, former parliamentary vice minister of internal affairs and communications, who is also from the CDP. The Centrist Reform Alliance was formed by the CDP and Komeito ahead of last Sunday’s election for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, in which the party suffered a crushing defeat. Its co-leaders, Yoshihiko Noda from the CDP and Tetsuo Saito from Komeito, resigned to take responsibility. The biggest challenge for Ogawa is to rebuild the party, following the election failure and amid frustration among members originating from the CDP over the fact that candidates from Komeito were given precedence in the general election, being placed high on the new party’s proportional representation lists. Over the preferential treatment given to Komeito candidates, Ogawa said at his inaugural press conference Friday that members from the CDP and Komeito “will be treated equally in principle” in future elections. He indicated plans to form the Centrist Reform Alliance’s new executive team early next week. The focus will be who is appointed secretary-general, a crucial role in party management. He expressed eagerness to “strike a balance,” emphasizing the need to create harmony within the party and allow female and young members to play important roles. The Centrist Reform Alliance faces the pending issue of whether CDP and Komeito lawmakers in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, and local assembly members of the two parties will join the new group after they remained out of the fledgling party at the time of its establishment. Ogawa said that he wants to “carefully discuss” the issue, in light of a cautious view among some of the Upper House lawmakers and local assembly members. He also sounded cautious about the Centrist Reform Alliance participating in a national congress planned to be set up by the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for discussions on issues including a possible consumption tax cut. Earlier Friday, Ogawa told reporters that it would be possible to clearly mention the Self-Defense Forces in the Constitution. At the press conference, however, he emphasized that he is not actively seeking to revise pacifist Article 9 of the country’s supreme law. “I don’t mean to deny discussions (on constitutional revisions), but such debates need to be acceptable to liberals,” he said. He said he upholds the party’s basic policies, which tolerate the restart of idled nuclear reactors and suggest the country’s national security laws are constitutional. But he did not mention his stance regarding the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko coastal district of Nago, another city in the southernmost prefecture. Of the new party’s lawmakers, 28 are former Komeito members. None of them ran in the leadership election. Ogawa’s term as party leader will last until March 2027. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]