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On June 2, DPJ Acting President Ichiro Ozawa and the People’s New Party Secretary General Hisaoki Kamei held a joint press conference inside the Diet building, at which they announced the two parties had decided to field a single joint candidate and engage in electoral cooperation in Kanagawa No. 1 constituency and Fukuoka No. 4 constituency.
At the start of the press conference, DPJ Election Campaign Chair Hirotaka Akamatsu announced, “At the next general election, we will field unified candidates for the single-seat constituencies: the DPJ’s Mihoko Nakabayashi in Kanagawa No. 1 and the DPJ’s Takeaki Koga in Fukuoka No. 4. With regard to the People’s New Party candidates Satoshi Ichikawa and Kazuhiro Matsukama, they will not run from the single-seat constituencies of Kanagawa No. 1 and Fukuoka No. 4. They will run respectively from the South Kanto and Kyushu P.R. (proportional representation) Blocs, and the DPJ party branches in Kanagawa No. 1 and Fukuoka No. 4 will support the bids of both People’s New Party candidates to run for office from the P.R. Bloc.”
Following this, Ozawa commented, “The LDP/Komeito government cannot protect people’s lives. They cannot create politics that stands on the side of the people. The only way these things can be achieved is through a change of government. There are still a number of constituencies where we and the People’s New Party are fielding competing candidates, but I have asked the People’s New Party to help us by fielding unified candidates, and moving toward the main objective that we both share of a change of government. Today, we have agreed to divide our candidates between the single-seat constituencies and the P.R. Blocs in Kanagawa No. 1 and Fukuoka No. 4. I would like to express my sincere gratitude.”
Kamei expressed his determination to bring about a change of government and emphasised the meaning of the agreement, saying, “The election is fast approaching. We have a strong desire to bring about a change of government. It was a tough decision. I made this decision in the belief that now is the time to bring about a change of government.”
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