Largest faction of Japan's ruling party backs Suga in leadership race: NHK
02 September, 2020
Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, has won the backing of the major faction of the ruling party to become its next leader, public broadcaster NHK reported on Tuesday (Sep 1), making him a solid front-runner to become another premier.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary and a long-time lieutenant of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Suga is widely likely to stay the policy course lay out by Abe, like the "Abenomics" strategy targeted at reviving the economy and keeping it afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Suga has not publicly announced his candidacy for leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) but has indicated privately that he intends to run, a source told Reuters.
Media reported he would formally announce his intention to run on Wednesday.
The party's leader will likely become prime minister due to its majority in the low house of parliament. The brand new leader will replace Abe, who abruptly announced on Friday he was stepping down for health reasons.
In a gathering on Tuesday to decide on the format of the election, LDP executives decided to a simplified vote, by party MPs from both chambers of parliament and heads of local chapters, party Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai said.
The proposal to exclude votes by rank-and-file members favours Suga, who has reportedly locked in support from the party's biggest factions. But a final decision, to be produced at a general assembly on Tuesday, could possibly be delayed because of opposition from many party members.
"We must elect a new leader at the earliest opportunity to avoid creating a political vacuum," Nikai told reporters. "There was no objection to my view at the meeting."
PUSH FOR WIDER VOTE
On Monday, however, younger LDP legislators met with Nikai to provide a demand from a lot more than 140 MPs and about 400 local party lawmakers for a full-scale vote. Several local chapters including Osaka also have demanded the same.
"To select the brand new leader, we must have a celebration presidential election in an application that listens to a wide selection of votes," one of the MPs said.
Shigeru Ishiba, a primary rival for the race, echoed those views, repeating on Tuesday that he was against a limited vote.
"I feel that both for democracy and for the party, that is something that shouldn't be," the former defence minister said on TV Asahi. Ishiba is the most popular with voters among the likely candidates but lacks strong backing in the party hierarchy.
The LDP is likely to hold its leadership vote on Sep 14.
Another contender is Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister.
The reported backing of the LDP's biggest Hosoda faction for Suga follows media reports of support from the powerful faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso. LDP heavyweight Nikai can be supporting Suga.
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