Failed DPFP Candidate Arrested for Campaign Breach

Tokyo, Feb. 21 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo police on Friday arrested three individuals, including a company executive who ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic Party for the People candidate in the Feb. 8 House of Representatives election, for allegedly violating the public offices election law, investigative sources told Jiji Press. The defeated candidate, Nobuko Irie, 63, and the two others–company executives Kyoka Sugahara, 25, and Yoshiko Sato, 63–are suspected of paying a total of 270,000 yen in compensation to five female campaign staffers in their 10s to 20s sometime between late January and early February. Irie ran for the opposition party in the Tokyo No. 7 constituency in the election for the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, DPFP chief Yuichiro Tamaki apologized, saying that Irie’s arrest is “an extremely regrettable matter that undermines the fairness of the election.” According to the sources and others, Irie, who served as a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member between 2017 and 2025, asked Sugahara around January to recruit campaign staffers. She later introduced Sugahara to Sato, who was in charge of accounting for Irie’s campaign. Sato then transferred funds to a bank account of a company run by Sugahara. Campaign staffers were recruited under the condition that they would be paid 10,000 yen for tasks such as handing out flyers during Irie’s stump speeches. Their compensation was paid by Sugahara’s company. Irie’s campaign is believed to have paid over 450,000 yen in total to more than 10 people, including the five women. Most of those who received compensation were university students, with some working as interns at Sugahara’s company. Police are also investigating these paid campaign staffers on suspicion of violating the election law. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]