Takaichi’s Win in LDP Race Owed to Aso, Rank-and-File Members

Tokyo, Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)–In Saturday’s Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi unexpectedly defeated agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi in a runoff vote. This outcome is largely attributed to support from the intraparty faction led by party supreme adviser Taro Aso, as well as from rank-and-file party members and supporters. In the previous LDP leadership election last year, Takaichi led in rank-and-file support and advanced to the runoff as the top candidate. However, she was overtaken by Shigeru Ishiba in the runoff, due to her lackluster support among party lawmakers. Like the previous party election, Takaichi topped the first round of voting. This time, however, she won the runoff, outperforming Koizumi both in support among party lawmakers and rank-and-file members. “Frankly, I was surprised,” a senior party member said. Initially, Koizumi was seen as having the advantage over Takaichi in a runoff, due to his anticipated lead in support among party lawmakers. However, Koizumi appeared to lose momentum after his campaign was reported to have asked for favorable online comments about him. The driving force behind Takaichi’s victory was support among rank-and-file party members. She secured the support of over 250,000 members, or 40 pct of the total. As Takaichi is known for her conservative stance, a party official said, “Rank-and-file members wanted a return to conservatism.” A midcareer party lawmaker said, “The kingmaker was rank-and-file members.” In the first round of voting, Takaichi received 183 votes, followed by Koizumi with 164 votes, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi with 134 votes, former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi with 59 votes, and former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi with 49 votes. Of the 295 lawmaker votes, Takaichi gained 64, placing her behind Koizumi’s 80 and Hayashi’s 72. However, she overwhelmed the two in the 295 rank-and-file votes, winning 119, against Koizumi’s 84 and Hayashi’s 62. The runoff vote was held with a total of 342 votes: 295 lawmaker votes and 47 prefectural chapter votes reflecting rank-and-file support. Takaichi beat Koizumi by a vote of 185 to 156. She even overtook Koizumi in the lawmaker votes, by 149 to 145. In addition to rank-and-file support, Takaichi appeared to benefit from factional politics within the party, although all intraparty factions but the Aso group have disbanded in the wake of a high-profile political funds scandal. According to informed sources, ahead of Saturday’s election, Aso instructed his faction to vote in a runoff for the candidate with the most rank-and-file votes in the first round. Many Aso faction members likely voted for Takaichi. Furthermore, Motegi, who has a good relationship with Aso, conveyed the same idea to former members of his now-defunct faction. Kobayashi also told his backers of his intention to vote for Takaichi, with whom he shares conservative principles. Meanwhile, lawmakers who supported Hayashi in the first round are believed to have voted for Koizumi in the runoff because both Hayashi and Koizumi had indicated that they would continue the policies of outgoing Prime Minister Ishiba. However, this was not enough for Koizumi to win. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]