Yuichiro Tamaki, who was reinstated as leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People on Tuesday, hit the ground running on his first day back, saying his party will aim to nearly double its Upper House seats in this summer’s election.
With his return after a three-month suspension from party posts due to an extramarital affair, the DPP hopes to move beyond unsuccessful talks with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition, and focus on the Upper House election, in which the DPP aims to increase its seat count from 12 to 21.
Tamaki’s reinstatement comes after senior DPP leaders failed last week to convince the coalition to raise the tax-free income threshold from ¥1.03 million ($6,900) annually to ¥1.78 million. The LDP and Komeito agreed to raise the threshold to only ¥1.6 million.
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