TOKYO – Japan’s ruling party picks its new leader today, with a mild-mannered former foreign minister and the Twitter-savvy vaccine chief leading the race to become the country’s next prime minister.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is going to the polls with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga opting not to stand, ending his tenure as prime minister after just a year in the role.
Whoever wins will be approved as prime minister by Parliament within days, and will then contest general elections in which the LDP is expected to retain power.
The race to become the next leader of the world’s third-largest economy is unusually tight this time around, in part because most of the party’s powerful factions are not backing a candidate and their members will vote freely.
Four politicians are in the running, two men and two women, another unusual turn of events in a country that has never had a woman prime minister and has few prominent women political figures.
The race is expected to come down to former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, who lost out to Suga last year, and vaccine roll-out chief Taro Kono, one of Japan’s most recognisable politicians.
Their competitors, hawkish right-winger Sanae Takaichi and feminist former gender equality minister Seiko Noda, are not expected to advance beyond a first-round vote.
The initial vote this afternoon will involve 382 LDP lawmakers and an equal number of rank-and-file party members.
But if no candidate secures a majority, the top two will advance to an immediate second round involving 382 lawmakers and one party representative from each of Japan’s 47 regions. – AFP, September 29, 2021
