Tokyo Governor Koike to challenge Japanese PM Abe with new party

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attends a news conference to announce the name of new political party at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Monday said she will lead a new national party that will challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a general election expected to be called for next month.

Koike, who named her new political group the Party of Hope, has emerged as a serious threat to Abe after she won the Tokyo governorship a year ago and in July fielded candidates who routed the LDP in elections for the metropolitan assembly.