CDPJ Likely to Field Renho in Upper House Election; Opposition Party Banks on Name Recognition for Proportional Votes

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:08 JST, March 7, 2025

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is likely to field Renho, a former member of the House of Councillors, for a proportional representation seat in this summer’s upper house election, according to CDPJ sources.

The party has begun making arrangements to bring Renho, 57, into the election, the sources said. It hopes that her high name recognition will help it win proportional votes.

After working as a news broadcaster, Renho was first elected to the upper house in 2004, running as a member of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan for the Tokyo constituency.

She later served as the government revitalization minister and the leader of the also now-defunct Democratic Party.

Later, Renho became a CDPJ upper house member but she left the party to run in the Tokyo gubernatorial election in July last year. She came in third with about 1.28 million votes.

After the election, she wrote on social media, “I’m not thinking about running for a national election right now.”