Opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai elected Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, 49, as its new leader at a party convention in Osaka on Sunday.
Yoshimura, currently co-leader of Nippon Ishin, aims to strengthen the party ahead of next summer’s election for the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of Japan’s parliament, after losing the general election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in October this year.
Nippon Ishin held its first leadership poll since August 2022. Yoshimura will succeed current leader Nobuyuki Baba, who decided to step down after the Lower House election.
About 26,000 party members who met preset criteria, including lawmakers, participated in the party vote.
In the Lower House election, Nippon Ishin saw its seats decrease by five to 38. The number of proportional representation votes it received fell by about 3 million to 5 million.
Following the defeat, party members voted to hold a leadership election. Soon after that, Baba said he would not run.
After the party race, Yoshimura expressed his intent to name Lower House lawmaker Seiji Maehara as co-leader. The party’s charter allows its leader to appoint a co-leader.
The remaining candidates in the party poll were Lower House lawmaker Ryuna Kanemura, 45, Lower House member Seiki Soramoto, 60 and Upper House lawmaker Shigefumi Matsuzawa, 66.
