2026 POLLS: LDP Veep Aso Aims to Further Expand His Intraparty Influence

Tokyo, Feb. 6 (Jiji Press)–Taro Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, has been vigorously delivering campaign speeches for LDP candidates in Sunday’s general election with a view to further enhancing his influence within the Japanese ruling party as the main backer of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Aso, who heads the LDP’s only remaining intraparty faction, aims to increase the number of lawmakers belonging to his faction from the preelection figure of 43 through the election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, people familiar with the situation said. Heading out on his campaign trail in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, the 85-year-old LDP heavyweight had as of Thursday visited six prefectures and given speeches to cheer up nine candidates in total, including four Aso faction members and others who plan to join the group if elected. “One vote for an LDP candidate will be one vote for Takaichi in the Diet’s prime minister nomination election,” Aso cried out in a stump speech in the western city of Osaka on Wednesday, where a former Lower House lawmaker affiliated with the faction and a candidate of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the LDP’s coalition partner, have been in a head-to-head battle. In the LDP’s leadership election in October last year, Aso played a key role for Takaichi’s victory. This enabled him to become the ruling party’s vice president and his faction members to serve as secretary-general and General Council chair, two of the four key posts in the party. Now that all other LDP factions have been disbanded amid the high-profile slush fund scandal, Aso can take the advantage of being the sole faction leader to gain stronger political power by making his school bigger and more solid, observers point out. Still, it cannot be warranted that Aso and Takaichi will keep getting along with each other after the Lower House election. On top of Takaichi’s dissolution of the lower Diet chamber for a snap election without advance consultation with Aso, her sudden pledge to eliminate the consumption tax on food for two years could cause a conflict with the person who served as finance minister for nearly nine years and is the leading fiscal conservative within the LDP, critics said. An aide to Takaichi, however, said, “If we score a landslide win in the upcoming poll, it can shut Aso up.” Former faction leaders have also been energetically traveling across the country to provide support to candidates who once were their followers. Among them, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi was in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Wednesday night to campaign for a former veteran faction member. Motegi also stumped for a candidate from another defunct faction in return for the person’s support for him in the 2025 LDP leadership race. People close to former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that although his faction was disbanded there is nothing strange for him to go out to lend a helping hand to like-minded candidates. Former LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, who distances himself from Takaichi, has been focusing his campaigning in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, his home prefecture. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]