JIP Head Yoshimura Refers to Possible Return to National Politics

Tokyo, Feb. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, also governor of Osaka Prefecture, has indicated the possibility of considering returning to national politics.

Yoshimura told a meeting of JIP executives in the city of Osaka, the capital of the western Japan prefecture, Sunday that he aims to conduct a local referendum on the so-called Osaka metropolis plan for regional administrative reorganization, a signature policy of the JIP, by spring 2027.

He went on to say that he would study his possible return to national politics if the metropolis initiative is approved in the referendum, according to informed sources.

At the meeting, the JIP, the coalition partner of the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, decided that Yoshimura would remain JIP leader, without holding a leadership election following the Feb. 8 House of Representatives general election.

In the election for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, the JIP failed to increase its seats markedly.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]