ニュース 2010/08/30 Edano announces candidates for next year’s local elections On August 30, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano held his regular press conference at party headquarters. He announced that the DPJ Standing Officers Council had approved official　party candidates and recommended candidates for next year’s nationwide local elections for prefectural and designated city assemblies, and for the Ibaragi prefectural assembly election scheduled for this December, and had also decided on an election campaign strategy. The current number of official candidates is 532 and the number of recommended candidates 7. Edano stated, “We are the largest party in the Diet and so I would like the number of candidates we field to reflect this.” He went on to express the opinion that the party would be embarking on the task of fielding new candidates in earnest from now on. Furthermore, Edano stated that the DPJ would actively proceed with the process of fielding new candidates in order to expand the number of those taking up the burden of regional sovereignty and to strengthen the party’s regional base. He said that it had been decided to increase the amount of funding provided to the DPJ headquarters in each prefecture, and to double the funds provided to officially endorsed candidates in the races for prefectural and designated city assemblies, as well as increasing the funds for recommended candidates, and providing loans to new candidates equivalent to the money required for the election deposit. In addition, he revealed that the party was also positively considering the idea of providing assistance to candidates standing in non-designated city and town and village assembly elections, which was not being carried out directly at present.