公明党の斉藤副代表が出馬表明　衆院広島３区、自民県連反発

　公明党の斉藤鉄夫副代表（６８）＝衆院比例代表中国ブロック＝は１９日、広島市で記者会見し、次期衆院選に広島３区から出馬すると正式表明した。現職は、昨年の参院選に絡む買収事件で自民党を離党し、公判中の元法相河井克行被告。新たな候補を公募している自民党県連は反発した。
　斉藤氏は会見で「強い政治不信に対し再び信頼を取り戻す。与党としての議席を守っていく」と強調。「政治家人生の総決算としてやる決意だ」と意気込みを語った。自民の独自候補擁立方針に関しては「一生懸命、理解していただくよう努力する」と述べた。
　公明党は同日の中央幹事会で、斉藤氏の公認を決定。この後、山口那津男代表が首相官邸で菅義偉首相（自民党総裁）に伝えた。山口氏は記者団に、首相は「うなずいて聞いていた」とした上で、「大事なことは与党としての議席確保だ。連立政権を維持するため、基本的な選挙協力はこれまで以上に取り組む」と語った。（2020/11/19-19:16）

Tetsuo Saito, deputy leader of Komeito, the coalition partner of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, announced on Thursday his intention to run in the next House of Representatives election from a closely watched constituency in the western prefecture of Hiroshima.
   Saito, 68, told a press conference in the city of Hiroshima, the prefecture's capital, that he will stand in the next poll for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, from the prefecture's No. 3 constituency. He is now in the ninth term as a Lower House member.
   The move triggered a backlash from the LDP's Hiroshima prefectural chapter, which has been publicly seeking a candidate to run in the constituency, after Katsuyuki Kawai left the LDP earlier this year over alleged vote-buying for his wife, Anri, for the July 2019 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. Kawai, who is standing trial over the charges, is currently a Lower House lawmaker elected from the constituency.
   "People have great distrust in politics, so we must regain trust," Saito said at the press conference, pledging to defend the seat for the ruling coalition. "I'm committed to working on it in the final culmination of my political career." On the local chapter's moves to pick its own candidate, Saito said, "I will try hard to gain understanding."
   At Thursday's meeting of its Central Secretariat, Komeito endorsed Saito as the party's official candidate for the No. 3 constituency. Saito won a Lower House seat for the first time in the 1993 election, running from a constituency in the prefecture, and has since been elected to the chamber under the proportional representation system from the Chugoku regional bloc including Hiroshima.