Koizumi Declares Candidacy for LDP Leadership Race

Tokyo, Sept. 20 (Jiji Press)–Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi officially announced his decision Saturday to run in the Oct. 4 leadership election at Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Unveiling his candidacy at a press conference in Tokyo, Koizumi, 44, said that he will compile a draft supplementary state budget for fiscal 2025 mainly to finance measures to fight inflation and submit it to an extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, seen to be convened this autumn, if he is elected prime minister. Koizumi said he will scrap the provisional add-on gasoline tax rate immediately. He also stressed his intention to work steadily on raising the minimum taxable income level, a step already agreed on between the ruling and opposition sides, in fiscal 2026 and later. Now that the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, have lost their combined majority in both chambers of the Diet, Koizumi said, “I will call on opposition parties to hold policy talks with us in various fields,” adding, “I hope to deepen discussions on the framework of the administration.” The race to select a new LDP president to succeed Shigeru Ishiba, the country’s outgoing prime minister, is scheduled to kick off officially on Monday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]