Tomin First no Kai


Tomin First no Kai is a regional political party in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan.

History

The group was founded by Yuriko Koike, governor of Tokyo since 2016. While still a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Koike began laying the groundwork for a new political party in late 2016, when she established the Kibo no Juku program to train potential political candidates. The program had thousands of applicants.
On 31 May 2017, in advance of the upcoming local elections, she resigned from the LDP, officially becoming the new party's leader and forming an alliance with Komeito in an effort to secure a governing majority in Tokyo's parliament. On 3 July 2017, the alliance took a majority in the prefectural election, pushing out the Liberal Democratic Party with a combined 79 seats of the 127-seat assembly. All but one of Tomin First's candidates were victorious; senior LDP lawmaker Shigeru Ishiba called the election a "historic defeat" for the LDP.
Koike stepped down as party head shortly after the election and was replaced by Kazusa Noda; Noda himself resigned in September 2017 and was replaced by Chiharu Araki. Two key party members, Shun Otokita and Reiko Ueda, stepped down in October, citing the closed nature of the party's leadership and its restrictions on their activities in the metropolitan assembly.
Koike formed a national party, Kibō no Tō, in preparation for the October 2017 general election called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Platform

The party platform for the 2017 Tokyo election advocated open government, proper use of public funds, and stricter penalties for public smoking. However, the party indicated relatively vague policy objectives in advance of the election, and many voted for the party simply in order to prevent the LDP from taking control of the legislature in the wake of its recent scandals.

Presidents