Miyazaki Gov. Higashikokubaru offers to run for LDP in upcoming elections, for a price - The Mainichi Daily News
MIYAZAKI -- Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) election bureau chief Makoto Koga met with Miyazaki Prefectural Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru on Tuesday with an official request to run for the LDP in the upcoming Lower House election.
In response to the request, Higashikokubaru asked whether the LDP was "prepared to fight in the Lower House election if I am a candidate to be the next president of the LDP," setting conditions for his participation in the Lower House elections -- which must be held by this September. No agreement with Koga and the LDP was reached.
Furthermore, Higashikokubaru proposed that the distribution of tax revenue between the central government and local bodies be set at 50-50 -- a major demand of the National Governors' Association -- and be made part of the LDP's policy manifesto for the next election. Koga apparently did not give a definite answer to Higashikokubaru's proposals.
"If the party does not change, it cannot expect the support of the people," said Higashikokubaru in a statement to reporters following the meeting.
Higashikokubaru apparently rejected previous advances by the LDP to run this fall in Miyazaki's first electoral district as a candidate to replace Nariaki Nakayama -- who has announced his retirement from politics -- as LDP president. However, with the public approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso dipping to dangerous lows -- a mere 19 percent according to a Mainichi poll conducted in early June -- the LDP decided to approach the well-known Miyazaki governor once more. Within the party, there also appears to be support for nominating Higashikokubaru to the Tokyo proportional representation candidate block as "the face of the LDP."
That just one prefectural governor could wave his demands under the noses of the LDP leadership puts the declining influence of Japan's leading political party into stark relief. When LDP Diet Affairs Chief Tadamori Oshima heard about Higashikokubaru's statements from reporters Tuesday, he was rendered momentarily speechless. Meanwhile, LDP General Council Chairman Takeshi Sasagawa said during a Tuesday evening television appearance that "Higashikokubaru is setting a high price for himself."
"Tossing out ideas that we cannot respond to means he has no intention of running (for the LDP)," Sasagawa complained.