MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) More than a third of the members of a 3,400-strong political body under the Ibaraki Medical Association plan to quit the Liberal Democratic Party, the body said Thursday.
The body formerly supported the ruling party, but 1,266 of its 3,472 members will abandon the LDP in line with its decision to endorse candidates from the Democratic Party of Japan in all seven single-seat constituencies in Ibaraki Prefecture for the upcoming House of Representatives election, the body said.
The group changed sides because it is opposed to the government's new health care system, which increases the financial burden on latter-stage elderly.
The association includes doctors and their relatives.