Junya Ogawa elected as new leader of the "Center Reform United" party
The Center Reform United party, which suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Representatives election, held a leadership election on the afternoon of February 13, and Junya Ogawa was elected as the new party leader, succeeding the two co-leaders who had resigned, Hashimoto and Saito.
With the votes of 49 members elected in this House of Representatives election, Ogawa received 27 votes to be elected. His term will end at the end of March 2027.
Ogawa Junya transferred from the Constitutional Democratic Party to the Center Reform United. He is from Kagawa Prefecture and is 54 years old. In 2003, he ran for the first time in the Kagawa First District as a candidate supported by the Democratic Party but lost. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in the 2005 general election and has been elected eight times as a House of Representatives member, including being re-elected through proportional representation.
He served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the cabinet of Yukio Hatoyama and the cabinet of菅直人 (菅直人) along with Takashi Hayakawa, who also ran for party leader this time. Later, he held various positions in the Constitutional Democratic Party, such as head of the Policy Research Committee, secretary-general, and chairperson of the House of Representatives Audit and Administrative Supervision Committee.
In the party leadership election, Ogawa stated: "Before rebuilding the party, I want to first rebuild people's lives. I want to eliminate the anxiety spreading in society and the situation where people cannot see hope for the future." "As the largest opposition party, we should present a blueprint for the society we want." This earned him more than half of the support.
The Center Reform United party, formed by the merger of the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Komeito Party, once had 172 seats. However, it suffered a major defeat in this election, leaving only 49 seats. Rebuilding the party's strength has become an urgent task.
Additionally, all the former Komeito Party members who were listed in the proportional representation list were elected, but most former Constitutional Democratic Party members failed to be re-elected even through proportional representation, leading to strong dissatisfaction within the party.
Moreover, the senators from the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito Party who did not join the Center Reform United will not form a unified faction, but instead participate in the special session of the Diet as members of other factions.
Before rebuilding the party, Ogawa's first challenge is to work hard to achieve unity and cohesion within the party. Whether he can gather forces under the "center" banner will be a severe test of his leadership as the new party leader.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1856984760599562/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.