TOKYO: Former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary KATO Katsunobu, 68, announced Tuesday his intention to run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Sept. 27 leadership election.

“My top priority task would be to double people’s income,” Kato, an LDP lawmaker in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, told a press conference at the Diet building.

He said he intends to promptly draw up a package of economy-boosting measures, including steps related to natural disasters, if.

Kato is the eighth person to announce a candidacy in the race. This is the first time for him to run in an LDP leadership election. The official campaign period for the upcoming election is set to start Thursday.

Kato said: “We have no time to waste (in taking measures) to double people’s income. I’ll work on the issue with a strong determination, and I’m resolved to make people’s lives affluent.”

To realize the income-doubling goal, Kato announced an initiative aimed at enabling all people to play active roles. He also stressed that he will work on eliminating households’ financial burdens on school lunch, medical treatment for children and childbirth.

Kato showed a plan to compile a drastic supplementary state budget to finance the envisaged economic package, and have it enacted at an early date.

Over the LDP’s slush fund scandal, he said, “I’ll urge (party lawmakers involved in the misconduct) to fulfill their accountability,” adding, “The LDP should consider returning money equivalent to the amount of funds (that were not recorded in political fund reports) to the state coffers.”

Kato called for the creation of a government agency for crisis management that is directly supervised by the prime minister, in order to strengthen disaster response efforts including reconstruction measures.

Kato spoke against Japan adopting a selective dual surname system for married couples, saying, “We should maintain the current system of one surname per family.” At the same time, he cited the idea of introducing a system in which original family names are recognized under law.

He said it is “too early” to relax current regulations on employee dismissal, noting that many people are still unlikely to get higher pay after changing jobs.

Among the seven people who announced their candidacies in the Sept. 27 election before Kato are former LDP Secretary-General ISHIBA Shigeru, 67, former Environment Minister KOIZUMI Shinjiro, 43, and economic security minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 63.

Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko, 71, plans to hold a press conference Wednesday to announce her candidacy.

The number of candidates is set to be the highest since the 1972 introduction of a system in which people running in LDP leadership elections are required to collect recommendations from a certain number of party lawmakers.

To date, the highest number of candidates was five, in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

JIJI Press