tokyo tokyo governor yuriko koike wednesday formally launch new party promise conservative reform step challenge prime minister shinzo abe add uncertainty outlook general election widely expect next month popular former rule party lawmaker already upstage abe media complicate forecast say would seek seat parliament low house abe say monday would call snap election reset mandate bet liberal democratic party ldp junior coalition party keep majority parliament low house hold two-thirds super majority abe dissolve low house thursday vote expect oct. 22. news conference launch party hope koike repeat promise form party without tie vest interest order reset japan time reset japan able sufficiently protect international competitiveness national security say koike former defence minister quit ldp early year speculation koike would choose run election say would remain position governor koike new party stake policy space similar conservative ldp right-wing main opposition democratic party mixture conservatives liberals call open government freeze plan sales tax hike 2019 end nuclear power promise promote diversity give populist tinge nikkei business daily report wednesday koike party merger talk democrats meet democratic party leader seiji maehara tuesday discussions koike make reference issue nikkei say prospect merger uncertain since koike suggest keen move could trigger split democratic party party struggle single-digit support rat several members defect run koike new party democrats also talk japanese communist party cooperate run unify candidates conservatives include maehara wary strategy koike 65 defy ldp run successfully tokyo governorship year ago field candidates rout ldp election metropolitan assembly july koike say aim push reformist policies open government end reliance nuclear power also call freeze plan raise national sales tax 10 percent percent 2019. abe say would go ahead tax hike spend revenue education child care abe decision go poll see effort take advantage confusion opposition camp uptick support rat rebound around 50 percent amid jitters north korea nuclear missile program support fall 30 percent july due suspect cronyism scandals tokyo governor launch new party wo n't run election