Noda Refreshes CDP Board

The Head of Constitutional Democratic Party, Yoshihiko Noda, picked Jun-ya Ogawa for the Secretary General, Kazuhiko Shigetoku for the Chairman of Policy Research Council and Hirofumi Ryu for the Chairman of Diet Affairs Committee. Hiroshi Ogushi stays as the Chairman of Election Strategy Committee. Noda appointed Ogushi, Akira Nagatsuma and Kiyomi Tsujimoto for Deputy Head of the party. By appointing younger members than him to the board members, Noda hopes to appeal refreshment of the party to the voters in coming general election of the House of Representatives. 

Ogawa, Shigetoku and Ryu supported Noda in the leader’s election of the CDP. While Noda had a choice to appoint other candidates to the board to demonstrate unification of the party, he rather chose to exclude his contenders from his team. The leadership with like-minded lawmakers may make policy promotion easier, but it can leave some instability in the party for internal struggle over basic policies.

 

Ogawa, age 53, is known as a liberal lawmaker who frequently stood for questioning in the committees of the Diet. Formerly worked for Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communications. He ran in the leader’s election in 2021, fallen behind of Kenta Izumi. Ogawa worked for Izumi as the Chairman of Policy Research Council. While Ogawa has built a framework of electoral cooperation with some other opposition parties, including Japan Communist Party, in Kagawa 1 district, JCP announced that it would field its own candidate in the district, indicating termination of cooperation with Ogawa.

 

Shigetoku, age 54, is a member of House of Representatives, and the head of a policy group in CDP, called Chokkan-no Kai (Group of Remonstration). The group has members between ten to twelve, and some of them including Shigetoku directly demanded Noda in August to run in the leader’s election. He was a bureaucrat in Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications before becoming a member of the Diet, and formerly affiliated to Japan Innovation Party, or Nippon Ishin-no Kai.

 

Hirofumi Ryu, age 59, is a specialist in Diet affairs. He had been a political journalist of TV Asahi. He joined the Party of Hope, led by the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike, in 2017. He joined CDP in 2021.

 

Hiroshi Ogushi, age 59, has been the chair of election strategy under the leadership of Izumi from 2021. Concerning early call of a snap election, Noda decided not to change the election chief. Nagatsuma, age 64, is known as a specialist of welfare issues, dubbed as “Mr. Pension System,” and Tsujimoto, age 64, positions herself on the left side of the party, known as a liberal lawmaker starting her political career as a member of the Social Democratic Party.

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