参院兵庫に出馬表明　泉房穂氏「苦しい国民支える」

　前兵庫県明石市長の泉房穂氏（６１）が２４日、神戸市内で記者会見し、今夏の参院選兵庫選挙区に無所属で立候補すると表明した。泉氏は「国民は今生活がきつい。苦しい人に手を差し伸べるのが政治の責任だ」と決意を述べた。立憲民主、国民民主両党や連合兵庫が支援する方向だ。
　泉氏は市長退任後、テレビなどに出演してきたが「発信をしても変わらなかった。もどかしかった」と強調。無所属での立候補について「大同団結の象徴になりたい」と語った。
　泉氏は旧民主党で衆院議員を務めた後、２０１１年の明石市長選で初当選。子育て施策で注目を集めた一方、市議らに暴言を浴びせた責任を取って２３年の任期満了で退任し、「あらゆる選挙に立候補しない」と語っていた。（2025/03/24-17:52）

Fusaho Izumi, former mayor of the western Japan city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, on Monday announced his candidacy for this summer's election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.
   Izumi, 61, said he will run as an independent in the Hyogo constituency. He is expected to be backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, as well as the Hyogo branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo.
   "People's daily lives are difficult now," he told a press conference in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo. "It is the responsibility of politics to reach out to those in hardship."
   Since leaving the mayor's office, Izumi has appeared on television. But he said he could not change society by spreading his views. "I was frustrated," he said.
   Regarding his plan to run as an independent, Izumi said, "I want to be a symbol of unity for a common purpose."