TOKYO: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike at a press conference Friday announced her intention to seek re-election in the gubernatorial poll in the Japanese capital July 5.

In her election campaign, Koike, 67, is seen promising to make Tokyo well-prepared for a possible second wave of novel coronavirus infection and successfully hold the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which have been postponed by one year to 2021.

Koike has no plans to ask for support from any political parties in the race. She will not make street speeches as she should continue concentrating on dealing with the epidemic as the head of the Tokyo metropolitan government.

The country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has given up on fielding its own candidate in the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

The major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party will support Kenji Utsunomiya, 73, former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) will support Taisuke Ono, 46-year-old vice governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

Utsunomiya and Ono have already announced their candidacies in the election, for which the official campaign period is set to start on Thursday.

JIJI Press