Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura has withdrawn his support for Kibo no To in a blow to Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who is also the fledgling party's chief. This setback comes less than two weeks after Omura agreed to cooperate with Koike and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, who serves as Nippon Ishin no Kai's co-leader.
"I want to send out messages of support to individual candidates with whom I have a relationship. I'm not thinking about backing a specific party at this stage," Omura told reporters at his regular news conference on Wednesday.
Late last month, Omura and Matsui met Koike in Osaka and declared they would cooperate during the campaign. Unlike Matsui and Koike, Omura does not lead a national political party but won re-election in 2015 with over 1.6 million votes with a voter turnout rate of just under 35 percent. He had the support of all major ruling and most opposition parties.