自民党じみんとう総裁そうさい選せん きょう告示こくじ 5人ごにん立候補りっこうほへ

The Liberal Democratic Party presidential election will be announced on the 22nd, and five candidates are expected to run.

As the ruling party becomes a minority in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, debates are set to begin over issues such as how to cooperate with opposition parties and economic policies, including measures to address rising prices.

The acceptance of candidacies for the LDP presidential election will begin at 10 a.m., and five people are expected to submit their candidacies: Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Koizumi, former Minister for Economic Security Kobayashi, former Minister for Economic Security Takaichi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi, and former Secretary-General Motegi.

All five are running for the second consecutive year, following last year’s record-high nine candidates in the presidential election.

And in the afternoon, the campaign speeches will take place and the debates will begin.

In the election campaign, as the ruling party becomes a minority in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, key issues are expected to include how to cooperate with opposition parties, economic policies such as measures against rising prices, as well as rebuilding the party in response to successive defeats in national elections and problems involving politics and money.

In addition, another key point will be how the intentions of influential lawmakers who have not yet made their positions clear—such as Senior Advisor Aso, who leads the partys only remaining faction, the Aso faction, and former Prime Minister Kishida—as well as former factional ties, will affect lawmakers voting behavior.

This time, a party member vote will be held among more than 910,000 party members and supporters who have voting rights, and it is expected that both the Diet member votes and the party member votes will each have 295 votes, making a total of 590 votes at stake.

The vote by members of the National Diet will take place at party headquarters on the 4th of next month, and together with the party member votes, which will be closed by the day before, the ballots will be counted on the spot.

Constitutional Democratic Party leader Noda said on the 20th, Given the situation of being a minority ruling party, their policies and statements are conscious of the opposition parties.

A considerable chemical reaction is occurring, and this is a chance to realize policies, he said, indicating that he would closely watch the statements of the candidates.

Representative Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People said on the 21st, No matter who is chosen as the party president, I want the promise made last year by the three parties—Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, and the Democratic Party for the People—to promptly abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate and raise the 1.03 million yen income barrier to aim for 1.78 million yen to be implemented quickly.

On the other hand, Mr. Noda said, No one is actively speaking out about clarifying the issue of money and politics.

He said, That wont allow for a true party reset, and Tamaki also pointed out, Unless trust is restored regarding the issue of politics and money, the LDP wont regain support no matter who becomes president.