The race to succeed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe started informally yesterday, with several contenders announcing their plans to stand, a day after Japan’s longest-serving leader announced his resignation.
Abe said he was experiencing a recurrence of ulcerative colitis, the condition that forced him to cut short his first term in office, but that he would stay on until his successor is decided.
Exactly how the process would unfold was still unclear, with local media reporting that several options were being considered.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could opt for a more traditional leadership election, involving lawmakers but also members of the party nationwide.
The LDP would choose Abe’s successor on about Sept. 15, Kyodo news agency reported.
However, the urgency of the situation, as well as the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, could see the party instead opt to poll only its lawmakers and regional representatives — a faster process.
A few would-be candidates have thrown their hats into the ring, including party policy chief Fumio Kishida, a mild-mannered former minister of foreign affairs considered Abe’s personal choice for successor, and former minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba, who is seen as more popular with voters, but commands less party support than some other candidates.
Japanese Minister of Finance Taro Aso, himself a former prime minister and long considered a likely successor to Abe, has announced that he would not stand.
Other possible candidates include powerful Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, viewed by many as a frontrunner, and Japanese Minister of Defense Taro Kono, a social-media-savvy former foreign minister who is seen as something of a long shot.
One woman is among those expected to stand so far: Seiko Noda, a former Cabinet minister whose chances are thought to be slim.
Whoever comes out on top, little major shift in policy is expected, analysts have said.
“Key policies — diplomacy and economic measures — won’t be changed drastically,” Shinichi Nishikawa, a professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo, told reporters.
“His successor could be a caretaker,” Nishikawa added, given that the LDP is to hold another leadership election in September next year, with general elections likely the following month.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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