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Reuters

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday votes for a new leader, who will almost certainly become the next prime minister, after current premier Yoshihide Suga announced he would not seek a second term as party leader.
Running for the top post are popular vaccine minister Taro Kono, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda from the party’s dwindling liberal wing.
The winner of the LDP leadership race is expected to replace Suga as premier of Japan given the LDP’s majority in parliament’s powerful lower house.
They will have to deal with an economy battered by emergency curbs aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus, which is only now starting to slow and strains on the medical system ease.
The new premier must call an election this year. How does the vote work?
There will be 764 votes up for grabs for the LDP leadership race, with the candidate who takes the majority set to become party president.
Half of the votes (382) will be allocated to LDP lawmakers who will cast one ballot each. The other half are determined by 1.13 million rank-and-file party members registered with the LDP.
The votes cast by party members will be allocated according to a proportional representation system called the D’Hondt method.
If no one wins a majority in the first round of voting, there will be a run-off vote between the top two candidates.
A total of 429 votes will be cast in the run-off, of which 382 lawmakers and 47 local party chapters will be allocated a ballot each.


What’s happens after the LDP leadership vote?
Once a new LDP leader is elected, parliament will be called into session on October 4 to elect the country’s next prime minister. The candidate who wins most votes cast by the lower and upper houses of parliament will take the top job.
If the two chambers choose different candidates, and negotiations between the two houses fail to agree on one, the lower house decision will prevail. Given the LDP’s majority in the lower chamber, the LDP leader is likely to be elected as prime minister.
The new premier is also expected to form a new cabinet and reshuffle the LDP party executives in early October.
China hawk and pacifist politician vie to become Japan’s first woman PM
When is the next general election?
The terms of the current members of the lower house of parliament run until October 21, meaning a general election will be held this year.
Prime ministers reserve the right to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap election. Snap elections must take place within 40 days of the premier dissolving the lower house of parliament.
Local media have reported, quoting LDP executives, that the lower chamber is likely to be dissolved in mid-October, with the election slated for either November 7 or November 14.
In Japan, elections are traditionally held on a Sunday.


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Japan

As Japan’s ruling LDP picks a new leader, what’s next for the new PM?

The four candidates running in the presidential election of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party pose after attending a debate. From left: Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda. Photo: Kyodo

Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ Sanae Takaichi focuses on Taiwan, US in appeal to China hawks before LDP vote

Sanae Takaichi, at the time Japan’s internal affairs minister, attends a news conference in 2019. Photo: Reuters

A candidate for the presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Kono, the cabinet minister in charge of vaccinations, attends a debate organized by Liberal Democratic Party, Youth Bureau, Women's Bureau at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. Other candidates, Seiko Noda, former internal affairs minister, Sanae Takaichi, former internal affairs minister, and Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister, also attended the debate. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Will Japan get its first female prime minister as two women run?

The four candidates running in the presidential election of Japan’s ruling party, (from left) Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda, at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: Kyodo

09 September 2021, Japan, Tokyo: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike speaks during a Tokyo COVID-19 meeting at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. Tokyo confirmed 1,675 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. The Japanese government will announce an extension of the state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions until the end of this month to curb the COVID-19 infections. Photo: Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

China ties, Taiwan top agenda as race for Japan’s new LDP leader, prime minister heats up

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends a press conference at his office in Tokyo. Photo: Kyodo

Former Japanese communications minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a press conference to announce that she will run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race in Tokyo on September 8, 2021. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Taro Kono, Japan's vaccination programme chief and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker, attends a news conference as he announces his candidacy for the party's presidential election in Tokyo, Japan, September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japan’s former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announces his economic policy for the governing Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race, in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. Kishida, one of the candidates to be Japan's next prime minister to succeed Yoshihide Suga, said Wednesday the country needs a new type of capitalism to address income and social gaps caused by the pandemic. (Yoshitaka Sugawara/Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Prime Minister Abe on Monday became Japan's longest-serving leader in terms of consecutive days in office, but there was little fanfare, as he visited a hospital for another health checkup amid concerns about his health.(Kyodo News via AP)

FILE PHOTO: Military personnel participates in a parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Taro Kono, Japan's regulatory reform and vaccine minister, attends a news conference announcing to run for leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Kono was the most popular choice for the next premier in the two public opinion polls last week. Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga leaves from a news conference at his office in Tokyo after announcing the extension of the coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other areas. Photo: AP

Japan’s vaccine minister Taro Kono emerges as front-runner to become PM, newspaper polls suggest

Taro Kono has emerged as the front runner to replace Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a news conference at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga gestures during his regular news conference at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, September 14, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo

Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to resign after just 1 year in post

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pictured at a news conference on Japan's response to the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this summer. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2020, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, receives flowers from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga after Suga was elected as new head of Japan's ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership election, in Tokyo. Japan's political shakeup could be an opportunity for South Korea, which sees Abe’s departure as a chance to clear things up between the rivals. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)

A man wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks across an intersection in a drizzle in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

News

Asia

East Asia


The winner of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race is almost certain to replace Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is not seeking a second term
Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda are in the running. Here are the next steps before the expected general election in November



The winner of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race is almost certain to replace Yoshihide Suga. Here are the next steps.


Yoshihide Suga

Fumio Kishida