Ishiba Officially Declares Withdrawal from LDP Leadership Race... Announces Support for Kono

Taro Kono, Minister in charge of Administrative Reform of Japan.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Shigeru Ishiba, former secretary-general of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), officially announced that he will not run in the ruling party's presidential election to choose Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's successor.

According to Kyodo News and Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 15th, former Secretary-General Ishiba stated at the Ishiba faction meeting held that day that he would not run in the presidential election and would support Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono.

At a press conference, former Secretary-General Ishiba said, "I share the same will for reform with (Minister Kono) and we share political ideology."

Minister Kono, who declared his candidacy for the LDP presidential election, met with former Secretary-General Ishiba at the Japanese National Diet on the 13th and requested cooperation, saying, "If I become prime minister, I will build a united party structure." Former Secretary-General Ishiba avoided giving an immediate answer at the time but is understood to have made up his mind on this day.

Kono and Ishiba are heavyweight politicians who ranked first and second, respectively, in preference polls for the next prime minister conducted by major Japanese media outlets.

With Ishiba's announcement of non-candidacy, the LDP presidential election is likely to become a three-way contest among Minister Kono, former Chairman of the Policy Research Council Fumio Kishida, and former Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The LDP presidential election voting and counting will take place on the 29th. The winner is determined by securing a majority of the combined 383 votes from party-affiliated Diet members and 383 votes from party members and supporters. If no candidate secures a majority, a runoff election between the top two candidates will be held on the election day. In this case, the votes of 383 Diet members and 47 local votes from the 47 prefectures (metropolitan governments) will be combined.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.