Japan's ruling party sets leadership race for September 27

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Tuesday to hold its presidential election to select a successor to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on September 27, while also defining a 15-day campaigning period to start on September 12, Report informs referring to Kyodo News.

The upcoming contest, the first since 2021 when Kishida was elected party chief, is currently expected to see 11 candidates vie for the party's top job, with the winner to be anointed prime minister given the ruling parties control both houses of parliament.

Kishida's abrupt announcement last week that he will not seek reelection has led a wide field of LDP figures to consider running, with the winner faced with the task of restoring trust in the party that has been eroded by unhappiness with its members' links to the controversial Unification Church and a long-running political funds scandal.

Kishida's three-year term as LDP president expires at the end of September.

The LDP decided to extend the campaigning period from the 12 days of the 2021 contest to 15 days this time, in an apparent bid to improve transparency in hopes of restoring public trust in the party.

Around the same period, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan currently led by Kenta Izumi is scheduled to hold its own leadership election, with campaigning due to begin on September 7 and voting on September 23.

Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi on Monday became the first to throw his hat into the ring for the LDP presidency, with the 49-year-old conservative vowing to break free of the LDP's intraparty faction dynamics.

The popular former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed confidence he can secure the backing of at least 20 party members, clearing the threshold to run in the race. He is expected to decide on his candidacy soon.