The election panel of the Liberal Democratic Party decided Thursday to field the publisher of a Japanese-language newspaper in Paraguay as a candidate for the July Upper House election, party lawmakers said.
The party is shortly expected to officially endorse the decision to put up Michio Takakura, 63, president of the Nikkei Journal, in the proportional representation segment of the election, primarily in an effort to attract overseas voters, they said.
Takakura, originally from Oita Prefecture, moved to Paraguay in 1976 and has obtained permanent resident status. But he maintains Japanese nationality and is eligible to run in Japanese elections, they said.
Takakura said earlier that he wants to run in the election to appeal to the public about flaws he sees in the overseas voting system.
The overseas voting system, from a 1998 election law amendment, allows Japanese adults living in one place overseas for three months or more to vote in the proportional representation section of national elections.