World News Koizumi critic Nonaka to retire

フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする

Hiromu Nonaka, an influential member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), expressed his intention Sept. 9 to retire from politics.

Nonaka, 77, told a hastily arranged news conference that he will not run in the next general election of the House of Representatives.

He is a former LDP secretary general and a senior member of the party's largest faction, led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

"I would like to devote all of my remaining energy to the struggle to throw out Koizumi's administration by cutting my escape routes," Nonaka said, expressing his determination to help Takao Fujii, a Hashimoto faction member running against Koizumi for the LDP presidency.

Campaigning for the Sept. 20 election officially kicked off Sept. 8.

Regarding the presidential race, Nonaka harshly criticized Mikio Aoki, a senior Hashimoto faction member who heads the LDP caucus in the Upper House, and Kanezo Muraoka, a veteran Hashimoto faction member who once held the post of Chief Cabinet Secretary.

The two have expressed their support for Koizumi in the election, exposing a rift in the faction.

"I cannot forgive them for their acts as politicians," Nonaka said, stressing that the Hashimoto faction will support Fujii as a candidate.

Although faction elders have approved Fujii's plan to run, he was not the faction's official candidate and is not expected to receive backing from all of the group's 100 members.

But Nonaka said that Japan is standing at a crossroads, and national leaders have to take bold steps.

野中元自民幹事長が今期で引退

9月9日、自民党の実力者、野中広務元幹事長が次の衆議院選挙には出馬せず、政界を引退する意向を明らかにした。

Shukan ST: Sept. 19, 2003

(C) All rights reserved