A “beautiful” former Fukuoka City Council member who resigned from her post for distributing “spoof leaflets” is running again in the April election…! The leaflets she distributed again caused a controversy in her hometown.

After causing such a stir, she is running again for the Fukuoka City Council in April,” said a source in the political circles in her hometown of Hakata. She is apparently running again for the Fukuoka City Council in April, and people in the political world in her hometown of Hakata are talking about it.

Local voters are voicing mixed opinions about a candidate who plans to run in the April 9 (announced March 31) Fukuoka City Council election.

The candidate is Wakako Horimoto, 41, a former Fukuoka City Council member. Last October, Ms. Horimoto attracted a great deal of attention for a shocking incident in which she impersonated her rival candidate, former House of Representatives member Yuji Shinkai (Sansei Party), by posting leaflets at residences and apartments in Hakata Ward.

After distributing some 200 leaflets in Shinkai’s name, including one that read, “I congratulated the former Unification Church on the ceremony,” Horimoto was arbitrarily questioned by the police, and at a press conference held after the incident was discovered, he apologized and resigned from the House of Councilors.

Only six months have passed since then. The fact that he unexpectedly chose to run again is reportedly causing a stir in his hometown. A source in the Fukuoka City Council said, “After the uproar, Horimoto’s decision to run again was greeted with a great deal of excitement.

After the turmoil, we rarely heard Mr. Horimoto’s name. However, this year, rumors spread quickly that he was going to run for office from the “Party to Protect the People from NHK” (now the Political Women’s 48 Party). I thought it was impossible, but in mid-March, I saw a large number of his leaflets titled “Reflection and Determination to Try Again” being distributed in Hakata Ward, and I was surprised to see that he was really going to run.”

FRIDAY Digital also obtained the actual leaflets distributed by Mr. Horimoto this time. There is a statement on the flyer that reads, “I failed once,

I have failed once before, and because of that, I want to take the lead in regaining trust in politics.

The leaflet also included specific policies such as “support for the handicapped” and “regular diaper delivery.

We wondered how Mr. Shinkai, the victim of the slanderous leaflets, perceived Mr. Horimoto’s intention to run for office. When we contacted him, he expressed his mixed feelings.

I was astonished to see Mr. Horimoto’s flyers in the mail at my local apartment. This time it was just an election leaflet (not a slander against Mr. Shinkai), so I was a little relieved (laughs). After that incident, Mr. Horimoto never apologized to me. Of course it is his own decision to run for office, and I have nothing in particular to say to him. To be honest, I myself feel strongly that I don’t want to be involved anymore.”

Why did Mr. Horimoto decide to run for office only six months after his resignation? We called him on his cell phone and made inquiries on his website, but received no response by the deadline.

Incidentally, Mr. Horimoto, upon running for office, criticized the “Fukuoka Restoration Association,” to which he once belonged, and wrote about his feelings on SNS as follows.

I deeply regret that my actions were really wrong, and I have taken responsibility by resigning from my position. I have also temporarily left politics to look at politics from a citizen’s point of view, but I believe that “politics that deceives citizens” is still wrong.

The improvement of childcare support and the promotion of GIGA School, which I worked very hard to achieve through close coordination with the government, were written on flyers and distributed before the election as if they were the results of my activities, even though I was not an active councilor at all. It is a world full of lies, such as distributing flyers.

There is no end to what I can write, but there is a power-harassed Fukuoka City Council member who is a non-permanent board member of The Japan Innovation Party, even though he was a member of the same political party but obstructed my political activities in the election four years ago, and a representative of Fukuoka Restoration Party who sent a letter to a former representative of another party to pray for his victory, as if it is the consensus of the party. I wonder where the current political scene is headed. I cannot tolerate lies from politicians. Regardless of the outcome of the election, I would like to see the citizens of Fukuoka judged once again.

In Hakata Ward, Horimoto’s constituency, there are 15 candidates running for the nine-member limit. A local newspaper reporter analyzed the situation in the city council election, saying, “There is no chance that Mr. Horimoto will be elected because he is young and, in a sense, well known.

What will the voters decide?