Less than three years after he resigned from the party leadership after a poor showing in the 2021 general election, Yukio Edano formally announced Wednesday he will seek to return to lead the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in its upcoming presidential contest.

In a news conference Wednesday, he expressed his resolve to build a party that can challenge the dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party in national politics and break away from the inward-looking dynamics of the political center of Nagatacho.

“As a politician, I can’t afford to run away in front of the crisis Japan’s facing,” he said, stressing that the CDP needs to make sure its policies are clear to the public. “Postponing my candidacy now, according to my own interest, would mean I won’t be able to change Japan’s politics.”

Edano went on to explain his policy platform, summed up in his slogan, “human economics” — a smorgasbord of measures including investment in people, regional revitalization and a revision of the current consumption tax, among others.

Ahead of the next general election, the CDP needs to transform into a “party of the people” capable of winning the support of voters dissatisfied with a scandal-tainted LDP, he said.

If elected as CDP president, the 60-year-old will need to address a variety of challenges, including the party’s relationship with other opposition parties — including the Japanese Communist Party and the Democratic Party for the People — and deep-seated internal divisions over a range of policy issues, particularly security and energy.

A veteran politician, Edano traditionally represents the party's more left-leaning wing and he is seen as close to the unions representing school teachers and public servants — the backbone of support for the CDP.

Ahead of the October 2021 general election, Edano entered into a pact for electoral cooperation with the JCP to field unified candidates in single-seat constituencies nationwide. The CDP ended up losing a dozen seats in the poll.

In July this year, the Tokyo gubernatorial election — in which CDP candidate Renho received the full backing of the JCP — laid bare the limitations of the partnership, a theme that will remain at the center of the internal debate in the upcoming weeks.

Since becoming CDP leader in 2021, Kenta Izumi hasn’t clarified his stance toward the JCP. The CDP continues to cooperate with the party when needed, while also keeping an open channel of communications with other parties — first and foremost, the DPP.

Izumi is expected to seek reelection next month.

”I’ll reconsider the way we approach collaboration with other parties,” Edano said, adding that he intends to pursue electoral cooperation with other parties in single-seat constituencies on a case-by-case basis.

“Confining ourselves to a narrow world of coalition dynamics limited to the inner workings of Nagatacho has prevented us from embracing sections of the public,” he added.

The CDP’s leadership vote is most likely going to determine the face of the party in a general election that has to be called within the next 14 months. Chances are that a new LDP leader elected in the ruling party's presidential vote on Sept. 27 might dissolve the Lower House to call a snap election in the fall.

Amid growing calls to bring in new ideas into the party, Edano’s candidacy might hurt the image of a party in need of a fresh face to challenge the dominance of the LDP in national politics.

Other names being mentioned as prospective candidates for the presidency include former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 67, and Lower House lawmaker Kenji Eda, 68, two veterans unlikely to make a breakthrough with the general public.

Both Noda and Eda might have a wider appeal among the more conservative wing of CDP.

Campaigning for the presidential race is set to kick off on Sept. 7, with a vote scheduled for Sept. 23 — four days before that of the LDP.

All candidates must secure 20 signatures from their fellow lawmakers to contest.

With the schedule for both parties’ leadership votes overlapping, the CDP is expected to intensify its attacks against the LDP, especially in regard to its response to the recent slush funds scandal.

“These races are a prelude to an election to choose the prime minister,” CDP Secretary-General Katsuya Okada told reporters Tuesday. “It’s like a semifinal.”