Former CDPJ Chief Yukio Edano Announces Bid for Leadership, Pledges to Lead ‘Sustainable Wage Increases’

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Yukio Edano, former leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party Japan, delivers a speech in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture in 2023.

Yukio Edano, a former head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, officially announced Wednesday that he will run in its leadership election.

Edano, 60, is the first candidate to officially announce his bid. The election will be announced Sept. 7, and voting will take place on Sept. 23.

“I decided to run because I thought it was time to put an end to the old politics and move toward a new era,” Edano said at a press conference held in the Diet. He pointed out that sluggish income growth has sapped the domestic economy and pledged to “lead sustainable wage increases.”