Up to 11 candidates could contest the election to become head of Japan’s ruling party and the country’s prime minister. Among them is the son a former PM and two women vying to become the country’s first female leader.
At just 43, Shinjirō Koizumi is a rising star of Japanese politics and one with a penchant for capturing headlines and ruffling the feathers of the country’s conservative ruling party.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fired the starting gun on the leadership contest when he announced on August 14 that he would not recontest his presidency of the LDP after a three-year stint.For a nation whose democracy has been dominated by the LDP for decades, there is no single favourite to replace Kishida. When the party elects a new leader on September 27, the winner will also take over as prime minister and may call a snap national election to capitalise on momentum and media coverage.
He hands over a legacy of public backlash to his handling of a slush fund scandal that embroiled the LDP, and revelations of the party’s ties to the controversial Unification Church that emerged after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. Analysts say the unusually crowded field of candidates is making it difficult to pick a clear front-runner, and some aspirants are competing for the same bloc of conservative or moderate votes within the party. One factor adding to the uncertainty is that the candidates who are most popular among the LDP base or the broader Japanese public, often are not popular with their peers in parliament.
Announcing his candidacy this week, he emphasised his experience as the former foreign affairs minister, saying “I can help steer the world” as he pushed for Japan to play a greater leadership role in global affairs. “The liability for him is that he is only 43 and there are older people in the party who might resent his jumping ahead,” Harris said.
“The ties to the Unification Church is also attached to their common belief in maintaining their traditional family values, rightful role of women in society, and therefore, for them to pick a female leader is going to be a real challenge that they would rather not do.” Izumi was preparing for the likelihood he would face someone other than Kishida and was sharpening his attack lines to focus on LDP corruption and the need for wholesale political renewal when interviewed by this masthead in his parliamentary office in late July.
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