Official campaigning for the race to choose the leader of Japan’s largest opposition party began Saturday as it gears up for a likely general election later in the year.
Yoshihiko Noda, 67, who served as Japan’s prime minister from 2011 to 2012 under the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, is one of four candidates in the Sept. 23 election for leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Other familiar faces looking to win the leadership are Yukio Edano, 60, leader of the CDPJ from its 2017 founding to 2021, and incumbent head Kenta Izumi, 50.
In a last-minute addition, first-term House of Representatives lawmaker Harumi Yoshida, 52, became the only female contender. Party lawmakers apparently put her forward amid concern a fresh face is needed to avoid losing public interest to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership contest.
The LDP’s Sept. 27 leadership election, set to have at least seven candidates, will decide Japan’s next prime minister, with the winner expected to call a general election soon after.
As part of the first day of official campaigning for the CDPJ’s top job, the four candidates will appear in a debate in Tokyo.
The campaign is expected to focus on issues such as how each candidate would make their party’s case to the country and how far they would cooperate with other parties, such as the Japanese Communist Party, in the lower house election, which must be called by October 2025.
Despite a host of scandals in the LDP, led by outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, an August opinion poll by Kyodo News found just 12.3 percent of respondents supported the CDPJ versus the LDP’s 36.7 percent.
The CDPJ leader will be selected during an extraordinary party meeting on Sept. 23, when its lawmakers and general election candidates will cast their ballots, while local assembly and rank-and-file members will vote by mail or online in advance.
Should no candidate obtain an outright majority, the top two will enter a runoff to select a winner.
BY: The Times Union / KYODO
