ニュース 2012/11/21 Announcement of first batch of party candidates for upcoming election On November 21, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced the first batch of 237 party candidates (subject to change) for the House of Representatives election that will be officially announced on December 4. Within this first batch, 204 are incumbents, two have previously held office, and 31 are rookies. By gender, 205 are male and 32 are female. Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi stated that two points had been prioritized in the selection of the first batch of party candidates: 1) whether candidates had submitted applications based on the major principle that they will conduct themselves in accordance with party resolutions; and 2) the principle of prohibiting nepotism. He said, “Although the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) advocates the prohibition of nepotism, they are breaking this promise.” Koshiishi also mentioned about 13 people who have submitted resignation reports to him since the end of October, commenting, “No matter what their reasons are, it is clearly antiparty behavior to submit a resignation report just before the general election and join or try to join another party.” He explained that he had made the decision that day to expel these people based on the DPJ’s ethical guidelines.