The 13 freshman members of the Democratic Party of Japan elected for the first time in September's Lower House election issued a joint statement Thursday asking the party's presidential candidates to create party unity.
The freshman lawmakers said they planned to submit a written statement to each of the candidates in Friday's party presidential election -- Naoto Kan and Ichiro Ozawa, both veteran lawmakers with leadership experience; and Yoshinori Suematsu. Suematsu, an ex-diplomat, later Thursday announced that he is abandoning his bid because he failed to gather the 20 party member signatures required to be officially listed as a candidate.
The freshmen also said they would hand the statement to DPJ lawmaker Takashi Kawamura. But aides did not confirm whether Kawamura, who has run in past leadership races, will run this time.