Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike plans to run in the capital’s July gubernatorial election as she sets her sights on a third four-year term.
Koike, who was reelected in 2020 as an independent, could make an announcement as early as Wednesday, sources close to the matter said. Both the Liberal Democratic Party, which has already decided not to field a candidate of its own, and Komeito are expected to back her.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party are working together to field a candidate to run against Koike. Shinji Ishimaru, mayor of the city of Akitakata in Hiroshima Prefecture, said earlier this month that he intends to run in the Tokyo gubernatorial race.
Official campaigning for the July 7 election kicks off on June 20.
The expected announcement will quash rumors circulating in Nagatacho, the political heart of Japan, that Koike, 71, would return to national politics, with an eye on the prime minister’s post.
Koike was first elected to the Upper House as a LDP lawmaker in 1992 and switched to the more powerful Lower House the following year, later serving as environment minister from 2003 to 2006 and becoming Japan's first female defense minister in 2007.