Alex Saito

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Alex Saito
斎藤 アレックス
Saito in 2022
Member of the House of Representatives
Assumed office
5 November 2021
ConstituencyKinki PR
Personal details
Born (1985-06-30) 30 June 1985 (age 38)
Madrid, Spain
Political partyFEFA (2023–present)
Other political
affiliations		DPFP (2018–2023)
Alma materDoshisha University
Websitesaitoalex.com

Alex Saito (斎藤 アレックス, Saitō Arekkusu, born June 30, 1985) is a Spanish-Japanese politician who is a member of the House of Representatives of Japan since 2021, representing the Kinki proportional representation block.[1]

Early life[edit]

Saito was born in Madrid, Spain on 30 June 1985 to a Spanish father and a Japanese mother. He moved to Japan in 1990, growing up in Osaka and Moriguchi in Osaka Prefecture.[2] In 1999, due to economic downturn caused by the Lost Decades, his father's restaurant in Osaka closed and he returned to Spain, leaving Saito with a single-parent household. After observing his mother's hardships as a single parent amidst Japan's economic stagnation, Saito decided to pursue a career in politics.[3][4]

Political career[edit]

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Doshisha University, Saito worked at a security company before entering the Matsushita School of Government and Management in 2013, where he interned with U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischman and graduated in 2017.[5] On April of the same year, Saito began serving as a secretary to House of Representatives member Seiji Maehara. In October 2018, the Democratic Party for the People announced that it would field Saito as a candidate in a constituency in Kyoto Prefecture for the 2019 Japanese House of Councillors election. However, the Constitutional Democratic Party also decided to field a candidate in the same constituency. In order to avoid splitting the votes between the two parties, Saito withdrew his candidacy in April 2019.[6]

In the 2021 Japanese general election, Saito ran as a candidate for the DPFP. Although he lost to Toshitaka Ooka of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Shiga 1st district election, he was elected through the Kinki proportional representation block.[7][8][9]

On 30 November 2023, Saito alongside 4 other members split from the DPFP to become a founding member of Free Education for All, in which he was appointed as Chairman of Political Affairs Research.[10][11][12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "国民民主党 斎藤アレックス 公式サイト". saitoalex.com. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  2. ^ "候補者の横顔【１区】：中日新聞Web". 中日新聞Web (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  3. ^ INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (2021-10-21). "衆院選滋賀１区 候補者の横顔". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  4. ^ "２０２１衆院選：候補者の横顔 1区 ／滋賀". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  5. ^ "京都新聞". 京都新聞 (in Japanese). 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  6. ^ "衆院選：滋賀１区 国民擁立予定の斎藤氏「優しさのある社会を」 ／滋賀". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  7. ^ "野党が比例復活当選 国民・斎藤氏、立憲・徳永氏：朝日新聞デジタル". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  8. ^ 日本放送協会. "衆議院選挙2021 滋賀(大津・彦根など)開票速報・選挙結果 小選挙区 NHK". www.nhk.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  9. ^ "【2021年 衆院選】近畿ブロック(比例区)開票速報 | 朝日新聞デジタル | 衆議院選挙（2021年総選挙）特設サイト". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  10. ^ "【速報】国民民主・前原代表代行が離党へ 新党立ち上げる方針（テレビ朝日系（ANN））". Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  11. ^ 竹本能文 (2023-11-30). "前原氏ら国民民主に離党届、新党「教育無償化を実現する会」結成". Reuters (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  12. ^ 日本放送協会 (2023-12-01). "前原氏 新党結成を表明 与野党各党は影響見極め | NHK". NHKニュース. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
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