Abe cabinet member defecting to join new opposition party

A senior vice-minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, Mineyuki Fukuda, said on Sunday he will leave the ruling bloc to join a new party being organised by allies of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Kyoko Nakayama, leader of the small opposition Party for Japanese Kokoro, also met Koike the same day and expressed an intention to join the planned new party, a source close to the matter said.

Fukuda, a senior vice-minister in the Cabinet Office, said at a press conference he will leave the Liberal Democratic Party to run in the general election expected for next month with the new party, which could realign the opposition camp amid the dominance of the LDP-led coalition.

“I’m not meaning to criticise the LDP,” Fukuda said. “I’d like to create socially desirable human resources with Mr Wakasa.”

Masaru Wakasa, another LDP defector and close aide to Koike, said at the same news conference that more could leave the LDP to join the new party, which has also attracted opposition lawmakers including Goshi Hosono, who recently left the Democratic Party – the largest opposition party – which is struggling to regain public support under new leader Seiji Maehara.