Japan: Ruling party leadership race begins with 9 candidates

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party unveiled on Thursday a list of nine candidates for its Sept 27 election to replace outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as leader of the party that has governed for most of the last seven decades.The nine candidates are-economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi,Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, digital transformation minister Taro Kono, former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba and current LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi.The number of candidates this time is the highest since the LDP began to require nominations for running in leadership elections in 1972.
Each candidate, having secured backing from at least 20 other LDP lawmakers to qualify for the poll, will begin a series of public appearances, starting with a nationally televised debate on Saturday.The nine candidates and other LDP lawmakers will gather at party headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 27 for the vote to decide the party’s next president and, since it holds a parliamentary majority, the next prime minister.Each of the LDP’s 369 lawmakers will cast a vote in the first round, while an equal number of votes will be distributed among rank-and-file members polled earlier.Once a new LDP leader is elected, Japan’s parliament will gather, probably in early October, to pick a new prime minister, who is then expected to announce a new cabinet and appoint key LDP officials.