Rivals trade blows as Japan campaign starts
Tokyo's popular governor Yuriko Koike and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traded barbs yesterday as the gloves came off for the official start of a snap election campaign in the world's third-largest economy.
Conservative premier Abe, 63, is facing an unexpected and fierce challenge from the media-savvy Koike, who has upended the sleepy world of Japanese politics with her upstart "Party of Hope."
Addressing hundreds of commuters at a busy Tokyo station via loudspeaker, Koike called on supporters to "end the politics of Abe," lashing out at the long-serving premier over recent scandals that have weighed on his popularity.
"The political status quo has continued while politics itself has lost the public's confidence," charged the former TV anchorwoman, 65.
Abe cut a contrasting figure by kicking off his offensive in the bucolic farming country of Fukushima, signalling his commitment to rebuilding the region hard hit by the 2011 nuclear power plant meltdown.
He pledged a major expansion of social programmes, including offering free early-childhood education in a bid to get more women into work, while also talking tough on North Korea.
In an obvious dig at Koike, he urged voters to consider his policies, rather than catchy soundbites.
Koike's "Party of Hope" has swallowed up and replaced most of the main opposition party in the space of a week, transforming Japan's staid political landscape.
But surveys suggest her bandwagon is grinding to a halt as she refuses to run herself for PM in the election, focusing on stewarding the world's most populous city with three years until Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games.
A poll in the top-selling Yomiuri daily suggested that 32 percent of voters plan to vote for Abe's conservative LDP with 13 percent for the Party of Hope -- down six percentage points from the previous poll in late September.
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