also: しきゃくこうほ
assassin candidate; candidate fielded to oust a same-party incumbent
A political term for a candidate put forward by a party specifically to defeat an incumbent from the same party, often in a primary or intra-party contest. The word carries a strong metaphorical sense of 'assassin' targeting a political rival.
In the next election, the party fielded an assassin candidate to defeat the incumbent.
He ran as an independent assassin candidate, but ultimately lost to the incumbent.
刺客 means 'assassin' in a literal sense; 刺客候補 extends this metaphorically to a political candidate tasked with ousting a same-party rival.
候補 is a general term for 'candidate'; 刺客候補 specifies a candidate with the particular mission of defeating an incumbent from the same party.
Standard kanji spelling; the reading しかくこうほ is the primary pronunciation.
Rarely used kana form of the reading; しかくこうほ is strongly preferred.
Compound of 刺客 (shikaku, 'assassin') and 候補 (kōho, 'candidate'). The term uses the metaphor of an assassin to describe a candidate whose primary purpose is to eliminate a political rival within the same party.