Kiyomi Tsujimoto

Tsujimoto, who was policy chief of the Social Democratic Party, has told her supporters she intends to run in Osaka Prefecture.

Even though she got a two-year prison term in February -- suspended for five years -- for misappropriating government funds for her secretaries, the 44-year-old Tsujimoto enjoys strong local support.

Tsujimoto has left the SDP and is running as an independent because members of the party say they cannot back a candidate who has been convicted and is in the process of serving a suspended sentence.

According to the sources, Tsujimoto is keen on getting back into politics, and especially wants to address such issues as the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq and maintaining the war-renouncing Constitution.

The Osaka race is likely to be fierce because Kiyoshi Nishikawa, 57, a former comedian who has been the top vote winner in the past three elections, will be retiring.

The Japan Times Weekly: June 19, 2004
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