Kenta Izumi, who hopes to be reelected as leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), is scrambling to secure the 20 nominations necessary to run in the Sept. 23 party leadership election.
Izumi's support base has weakened, with party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa withdrawing his support despite backing the current leader in the previous leadership race. Izumi, 50, is now visiting individual party members' parliamentary offices to ask for their support.
A party source speculated that he may be struggling to find 20 people to nominate him for the leadership post.
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