Koizumi's son rejects double candidacy

The son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi running for his father's Lower House seat from Kanagawa Prefecture in the Aug. 30 election will not appear simultaneously on the proportional representation portion of the ballot.

Shinjiro Koizumi, the key hereditary candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party, said voters won't accept a candidate who is defeated in a single-seat district but becomes a Diet member under the proportional representation system.

"I want to show how determined I am to become a politician," Koizumi, 28, said Wednesday in Yokosuka.

Meanwhile, former transport minister Nariaki Nakayama said he will run in a district in Miyazaki Prefecture, retracting an earlier statement.

The LDP member said last October he would not run in the election after resigning from his post in Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet over remarks he made about the Japan Teachers Union.

The LDP has already decided to field former state minister Mitsuhiro Uesugi in the same district and Nakayama's candidacy could split the party's vote.

Ryuho Okawa, leader of the Happy Science religious corporation, said he has placed himself at the head of the list of Happiness Realization Party candidates for the Tokyo proportional representation block in the Aug. 30 general election.

Okawa will take over the presidency of the new party from his wife, Kyoko.