LDP Leadership Race Campaign Period Kicks Off with 5 Candidates

22 Settembre 2025

Tokyo, Sept. 22 (Jiji Press)–The campaign period for the Oct. 4 leadership election of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party kicked off Monday, with five filing their candidacies. The five, in the order of their candidacy filing, are former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 50, former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, 69, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, 64, another former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 64, and agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44. As the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito have lost their combined majority in both chambers of parliament, key campaign issues will include how to cooperate with opposition parties with an eye toward expanding the coalition government’s framework, as well as economic policies. The candidates are expected to hold heated debates, staking the party’s revival on the outcome, with a runoff vote also a possibility. The acceptance of candidacy for the election to decide the successor to Shigeru Ishiba, outgoing LDP president and Japanese prime minister, began at 10 a.m. Monday at the party headquarters. Each camp submitted the required documents, including a list of 20 lawmakers serving as endorsers. The candidates will compete for a total of 590 votes, with 295 coming from LDP lawmakers and another 295 from rank-and-file party members and supporters. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, the two candidates with the most votes will compete in a run-off for a total of 342 votes–47 from prefectural party branches and the remaining 295 from lawmakers. The new LDP president is set to serve until September 2027. All five of the candidates also ran in last year’s LDP presidential election. Takaichi came top in the first vote, with Ishiba in second place and Koizumi in third, followed by Hayashi, Kobayashi and Motegi. Takaichi lost to Ishiba in the run-off. Recent media polls show that Koizumi and Takaichi are in a tight race for the top spot as the most suitable candidate for the next LDP president. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] 

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