Diet Vote to Select New PM Eyed for Oct. 14 or Later

Tokyo, Sept. 29 (Jiji Press)–The Liberal Democratic Party-led administration is considering convening an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 14 or later to elect Japan’s new prime minister, following the LDP’s leadership election scheduled for Saturday, it was learned Monday. The Diet affairs chiefs of the LDP and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will begin talks on the schedule on Tuesday, a senior LDP official said. A vote to elect the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to be held on the first day of the session. If the Diet session is convened on Oct. 14, there would be 10 days between the LDP election and the session, longer than the two to five days that followed the previous three LDP leadership elections. The opposition camp may demand that the upcoming session be convened earlier. The LDP’s new leader is expected to use this time to seek to expand the ruling bloc for a stable government. Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People are viewed as potential new members of the ruling bloc. Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, who is considered a frontrunner in the leadership race, is expected to devote time to coalition talks if he wins the election. “A coalition comes after a trust relationship is built,” he said on television on Sunday. If Koizumi wins, the start of the Diet session may be pushed back to around Oct. 20. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]