The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan heads into Monday's presidential election with hopes of electing a new leader who can both unify the different groups within it and work with other opposition parties, possibly as a ruling coalition after the next general election.
But with three of the four candidates being party veterans with different ideas on how to accomplish those goals, and public opinion polls showing the CDP — the main opposition party — as being still far less popular than the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, it’s not clear how successful the winner will be in turning those hopes into reality.
A recent Jiji Press poll of CDP national lawmakers showed former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, 67, leading the other two main candidates, former leader Yukio Edano, 60, and current leader Kenta Izumi. But among the CDP's regional officials, the three are in a tight race.
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