CDP’s Edano takes another shot at party leadership after 2021 polls failure

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.”