Komeito Yamaguchi leader wins 8th term

Tokyo, Sept. 15 (Jiji Press) — Natsuo Yamaguchi won an eighth term on Thursday as leader of Komeito, the coalition partner of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Yamaguchi, 70, was the only candidate to run for the party leadership on the same day. His re-election will be officially approved at a party congress on September 25. His next term will last until September 2024.

Initially, Komeito General Secretary Keiichi Ishii, 64, was to replace Yamaguchi in the leadership election.

However, after the party’s poor showing in House of Councilors elections in July and ahead of unified local elections next spring, calls for Yamaguchi’s re-election have grown among members of the grassroots Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist group. of party power.

Yamaguchi became Komeito leader in 2009, after his predecessor, Akihiro Ota, lost his parliamentary seat in the 2009 House of Representatives elections.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]