Shinzo Abe’s biggest potential rival is not running against him
Tokyo — Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, whose new party is challenging Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc in the October 22 national election, said she would "100%" not run in the poll, the latest twist in a drama giving voters whiplash. Speculation has persisted that Koike, a former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member and defence minister, would resign to run for a seat in parliament needed to make a bid for the premiership. "I have been saying I will not run for the election from the beginning," Koike said in an interview with the Yomiuri newspaper on Tuesday. "I’m 100% not running for the election." If Koike does not personally contest this election, then analysts believe she would hope her party positions itself to win the next national poll, and that she gains a voter boost from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Abe announced the snap election last week in hopes his LDP-led coalition would keep its majority in parliament’s lower house, where it held a two-thirds "super majo...
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