The Liberal Democratic Party should cooperate with other parties to field a joint candidate for the Tokyo gubernatorial election in April, rather than nominate one from its own ranks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.

The LDP "should choose (a candidate) through discussions with a wide variety of parties and groups, and should be careful so that it is not seen as pursuing party interests," the top government spokesman told a regular news conference.

LDP legislators from Tokyo and LDP metropolitan assembly members want to field former Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa as the party's own candidate in the April 11 race. But the party leadership, led by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, favors cooperating with some of the opposition parties in order to have a better chance of backing a winning candidate and to improve ties with the opposition camp in the Diet, especially New Komeito.

Nonaka is believed to have been talking about cooperating with the opposition Democratic Party of Japan and New Komeito. The DPJ plans to run Kunio Hatoyama, the DPJ deputy leader, and New Komeito, which has a strong support base in Tokyo, may throw its support behind Hatoyama.

Nonaka said he welcomes Hatoyama's earlier comments indicating he would leave the DPJ should he decide to run in the race. Hatoyama said Tuesday that he will make a decision within a week or so. "The head of a local government should not stick to one party, but should receive a mandate from a wide variety of people," Nonaka said.

Meanwhile, in Osaka, the Osaka branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) said Wednesday that it may back Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama's bid for re-election in the April gubernatorial race.

Tomohisa Maekawa, chairman of Rengo Osaka, said he will consider supporting the incumbent "under certain conditions," although he added that it all depends on upcoming talks with the governor.