Yoshimura Leads Ishin

Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai) elected the governor of Osaka, Hirofumi Yoshimura, for its new head on December 1st. Yoshimura emphasized that he would take a stance against the leading Liberal Democratic Party to rebuild the party that faces gradual decline in the elections. Ishin is going to change its position from approaching the leading coalition between the LDP and Komeito to taking distance from it. It must be bad news for Shigeru Ishiba Cabinet, which is suffering from a hung parliament. 

Yoshimura and three lawmakers ran for the election, which was held to replace former head, Nobuyuki Baba. Baba was the top leader of the party in last general election of the House of Representatives in October, in which Ishin reduced six seats from forty-four. It was mostly the first experience of decline for the party that has been expanding its size from Osaka to all over Japan.

 

Ishin was established in 2016, based on a local party, Osaka Restoration Association (Osaka Ishin-no Kai). Osaka Ishin was formulated in 2010 by former governor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, to promote regional policies, represented by Osaka Capital Initiative. Although Osaka Ishin tried to establish a new local governance with broader discretion by shifting authorities from national government to local, the initiative was denied twice in referendums of Osaka prefecture in 2015 and 2020.

 

Osaka Ishin tried to be a national party by merging with other parties several times. But the efforts have not reached its goal with discordance inside, repeating unification and division. Baba, as a conservative lawmaker, took a position righter than the LDP to attract right wing voters. In the Lower House election in October, however, Ishin could not get much votes in all over Japan, while it occupied all the nineteen single-seat constituencies in Osaka.

 

In the press conference after the leader’s election, Yoshimura insisted that he would not seek the leading position among the opposition parties. Ishin once reached close to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) in the number of seats in both Houses of the Diet, fielding as much candidates in the elections. The strategy had a side effect, causing division of voters who did not like leadership of the LDP. “We will discuss with other opposition parties to create one-on-one match between the LDP and the oppositions in the prefectural single-seat constituencies of the House of Councillors, which election is scheduled in next summer.

 

Another decision Yoshimura made was to appoint Seiji Maehara, former head of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to the co-chair of Ishin, who supports the head. When he was the head of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the successor of DPJ, Maehara decided to disband DPP to merge into Party of Hope, led by the governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike, which caused fragmentation of the opposition parties. That is because, Maehara has not maintained close relationship with CDPJ.

 

Yoshimura explained his pick of Maehara that he was a very experienced lawmaker. But Maehara joined Ishin as late as this October. It is still unclear whether Maehara can lead the Diet affairs and election strategy on behalf of Yoshimura who is a local politician. 

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