TOKYO, Sept 12 (Askume) – Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday announced a list of nine candidates for a Sept. 27 election to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has ruled the party for most of the past seven years.
Below is a list of the main contenders.
what happens next?
Each candidate must be joined by at least 20 other LDP candidates to be eligible to vote. Lawmakers will receive endorsements and begin a series of public appearances, starting with a nationally televised debate on Saturday.
How does voting work?
The nine candidates and other Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers will gather at party headquarters in Tokyo on Sept. 27 to vote on the party’s next president and, now that the party has a majority in parliament, the next prime minister.
Each of the LDP’s 369 MPs will vote in the first round, while an equal number of votes will be distributed among the ordinary MPs who have already voted.
According to the party’s website, the party has 1.13 million registered members and is scheduled to contest the 2021 leadership election.
The candidate who receives a simple majority in this vote becomes the party leader. If no one receives a majority, a runoff vote is held between the two candidates with the most votes.
In the second stage, each member of parliament again gets one vote, but the ratio for ordinary members is reduced to 47 votes, or one vote for each prefecture in Japan.
After the party vote
Once a new LDP leader is elected, Japan’s parliament will hold an election in early October to choose a new prime minister, who is then expected to announce a new Cabinet and appoint key LDP officials.
The new prime minister could also call an early election to seek a national mandate, which at least one leading candidate, Shinjiro Koizumi, has promised to do. National elections could be held on October 27, media said.
