Attention Paid to Whom Aso, Kishida Will Back in LDP Race

Tokyo, Sept. 20 (Jiji Press)–With Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party set to hold its presidential election on Oct. 4, attention is being paid to which candidate former prime ministers Taro Aso and Fumio Kishida will back in the race. As Aso and Kishida have the power to influence the votes of several dozen LDP lawmakers if the poll goes to a runoff, candidates are rushing to meet with the two party bigwigs. They have not clarified their preferred candidates, and appear to be assessing who is most likely to win. The party election will decide the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. On Thursday, former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi and agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, both viewed as frontrunners in the election, respectively visited Aso’s office in the Diet building to report their candidacies. During a 15-minute meeting with Takaichi, Aso urged her to be “cheerful and energetic.” Aso, currently the party’s supreme advisor, is said to be advising Takaichi on policy. Meanwhile, Aso reportedly told Koizumi at a 30-minute meeting that he would not run to save the party from peril if he were the minister’s age of 44. Aso has acknowledged Koizumi’s improvement, but has not signal his support for him, informed sources said. Koizumi also met with Kishida on Thursday, while Takaichi visited Kishida on Sept. 11. Aso heads the LDP’s only remaining intraparty faction, which currently has 43 members, after other factions were disbanded following a high-profile political funds scandal. Meanwhile, Kishida maintains a certain level of sway over the 40 or so lawmakers who used to be members of his faction. Still, both groups are not acting in unison in the race. Support among Aso faction members is split between candidates including Takaichi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, while former Kishida faction members are backing different candidates, including Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. Nevertheless, the two bigwigs’ voting intentions would be crucial in deciding the winner if the vote goes to a runoff, in which lawmakers’ ballots make up a larger portion of the total vote than in the first round. In last year’s leadership election, Takaichi led in the first round of voting but lost to Ishiba in the runoff, in which Ishiba gained the backing of former Kishida faction members. Aso threw his weight behind Takaichi in an attempt to prevent Ishiba from taking the prime minister’s office. Senior Aso faction members are discussing how to position themselves in the latest race. One middle-ranking member said that the group “must back the winning horse” to become part of the party mainstream. Those close to Kishida said that he “may fall in step with Aso if a runoff is held.” Meanwhile, former Prime Minister and current LDP Vice President Yoshihide Suga continues to fully support Koizumi after his unsuccessful bid last year. Suga and Koizumi met on Thursday to discuss the situation in the party. Suga has significant influence over some LDP members who did not belong to factions prior to the funds scandal. Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, who will head Koizumi’s campaign, served as chief cabinet secretary in the Suga administration. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]