| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The 2021 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election was held on 29 September 2021 to elect the next President of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and Prime Minister of Japan. Kishida was elected to lead the party, and assumed the premiership on 4 October. He led the party into the 2021 Japanese general election. [1]
President of the LDP and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on 3 September that he would not run for his re-election, amid low approval ratings and media reports of dissension within the party. [2] Suga was initially elected President of the LDP in 2020 to serve the rest of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's third and final term after Abe resigned in August 2020 due to health issues.
Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida won the election in a second round runoff, defeating opponent Taro Kono, the incumbent Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform. Kishida's victory was driven by strong support among LDP Diet members, while Kono led polling prior to the election and won the most votes from dues-paying party members. Kishida was confirmed by the Diet as Japan's 100th Prime Minister on 4 October 2021. [3]
Shinzo Abe was elected President of the LDP three consecutive times in 2012, 2015 and 2018 following a rule change in 2017 which extended the office's term limit to three consecutive terms instead of two. [4] He successfully led the LDP to three consecutive general election victories in 2012, 2014 and 2017 and assumed the premiership as the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history. [5] On 28 August 2020, Abe suddenly announced that he would resign as Prime Minister and LDP President following a resurgence of his ulcerative colitis. [6]
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga won the party's special election in September 2020 to serve the remainder of Abe's term as LDP President, with Suga subsequently entering office as Prime Minister on 16 September. [2] Suga had initially announced that he would run for re-election for a full term as LDP President in advance of the 2021 general election. [7] On 3 September 2021, Suga reversed course and announced that he would not run for re-election as LDP President, amid poor approval ratings and media reports of internal dissension within the party regarding Suga's leadership. [2]
Suga's withdrawal from the race as well as the fact that most of the LDP's internal factions have declined to endorse a specific candidate led to the election being described as wide open and unpredictable. [8]
The election process for the President of the LDP is established in the "Rules for the Election of President of the Party". [9] In order to officially qualify as a candidate in the election, a candidate must be an LDP member of the National Diet and must receive a nomination from at least 20 fellow LDP Diet members. [9]
The LDP selects its leader via a two-round election involving both LDP members of the Diet and dues-paying party members from across Japan. [10] In the first round, all LDP members of the Diet cast one vote while party member votes are translated proportionally into votes equaling the other half of the total ballots. [10] If any candidate wins a majority (over 50%) of votes in the first round, that candidate is elected President. [10]
If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round, a runoff is held immediately between the top two candidates. [10] In the runoff, all Diet members vote again while the 47 prefectural chapters of the LDP get one vote each, with the result of the latter votes determined using the first round results of party members in each prefecture. [10] The candidate who wins the most votes in the runoff is then elected President. [10]
The party's secretary general can decide to organise the election with the rule of the second round only, as was decided in 2020, but didn't as for 2021. [11]
Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Current position | Party faction | Electoral district | Reference(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fumio Kishida | 29 July 1957 (age 64) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Previous offices held
| Kōchikai (Kishida) | Hiroshima 1st district | [12] | |
Sanae Takaichi | 7 March 1961 (age 60) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 2005) Previous offices held
| None (Widely regarded as an ally of Shinzo Abe) [13] | Nara 2nd district | [13] | |
Taro Kono | 10 January 1963 (age 59) | Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform (since 2020) Minister for COVID-19 Vaccinations (since 2021) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1996) Previous offices held
| Shikōkai (Asō) | Kanagawa 15th district | [14] | |
Seiko Noda | 3 September 1960 (age 61) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Previous offices held | None | Gifu 1st district | [15] |
Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Notable positions | Party faction(s) | District(s) | Announced | Withdrew | Reference(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yoshihide Suga | 6 December 1948 (age 73) | Prime Minister (since 2020) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1996) Other offices
| None | Kanagawa 2nd district | 17 July | 3 September (endorsed Kono) [16] | [7] [17] |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki wiki. |
Fieldwork date | Pollster/Link | Sample size | Fumio Kishida | Sanae Takaichi | Tarō Kōno | Shigeru Ishiba | Seiko Noda | Shinjirō Koizumi | Yoshihide Suga | Undecided/None | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25–26 September 2021 | Kyodo News [42] | 1,014 | 22.4% | 16.2% | 47.4% | – | 3.4% | – | – | 10.7% | LDP party members |
25 September 2021 | Mainichi Shimbun [43] | 3,748 | 18% | 28% | 47% | – | 4% | – | – | 3% | – |
18 September 2021 | Mainichi Shimbun [44] | 1,043 | 13% | 15% | 43% | – | 6% | – | – | 23% | – |
17–18 September 2021 | Kyodo News [45] | 1,028 | 18.5% | 15.7% | 48.6% | – | 3.3% | – | – | 13.9% | LDP party members |
14 September 2021 | Shigeru Ishiba announces that he will not run for the LDP leadership; Shinjirō Koizumi announces that he will not run for the LDP leadership and will back Taro Kono | ||||||||||
11–12 September 2021 | Asahi Shimbun [46] | 1,477 | 14% | 8% | 33% | 16% | 3% | – | – | 26% | – |
9–11 September 2021 | Nikkei Asia [47] | N/A | 14% | 7% | 27% | 17% | – | – | – | 35% | – |
4–5 September 2021 | Kyodo News [48] | 1,071 | 18.8% | 4% | 31.9% | 26.6% | 4.4% | – | – | 14.3% | – |
4–5 September 2021 | Yomiuri Shimbun [49] | 1,142 | 12% | – | 23% | 21% | – | 11% | – | 33% | – |
27–29 August 2021 | Nikkei Asia | 1,025 | 13% | 3% | 16% | 15.5% | – | – | 11% | 41.5% | "Preferred Leader of the LDP" |
14% | – | 18% | 12% | – | – | 20% | 36% | "Preferred Prime Minister" | |||
Candidate | 1st Round | 2nd Round | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Diet members | Party members | Total points | Diet members | Prefectural chapters | Total points | ||||||||||
Votes cast | % | Popular votes | % | Allocated votes | % | Total votes | % | Votes cast | % | Votes cast | % | Total votes | % | ||
Fumio Kishida | 146 | 38.42 | 219,338 | 28.86 | 110 | 28.80 | 256 | 33.60 | 249 | 65.53 | 8 | 17.02 | 257 | 60.19 | |
Taro Kono | 86 | 22.63 | 335,046 | 44.08 | 169 | 44.24 | 255 | 33.46 | 131 | 34.47 | 39 | 82.98 | 170 | 39.81 | |
Sanae Takaichi | 114 | 30.00 | 147,764 | 19.44 | 74 | 19.37 | 188 | 24.67 | Eliminated | ||||||
Seiko Noda | 34 | 8.95 | 57,927 | 7.62 | 29 | 7.59 | 63 | 8.27 | Eliminated | ||||||
Total | 380 | 100 | 760,075 | 100 | 382 | 100 | 762 | 100 | 380 | 100 | 47 | 100 | 427 | 100 |
After Prime Minister Suga announced his resignation, Kono was heavily favored to win the election as he was in first place among many LDP polls leading up to the election. [52] His campaign was endorsed by Suga and other high ranking LDP members, [53] but Kishida narrowly won the first round of the election and ultimately defeated Kono in the run-off. [50] [51]
After being elected, Kishida's victory was labelled as a win for the party's "technocrats establishment". [54] Kishida was seen by many LDP members as a stable choice to succeed Suga rather than a rapid change. [54] [55] Kono was seen as a candidate of change. [55] Kishida vowed not to increase the consumption tax rates in Japan and reviewing the pension and health-care system in the country. [54] He has said that his main focus would be to focus on income redistribution to address income inequality. [54]
U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated Kishida and looked "forward to working with [Kishida] to strengthen our cooperation in the years ahead". [56]
President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Kishida after he was elected Prime Minister of Japan. [57]
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by Article 41 and Article 42 of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation, and 289 are elected from single-member constituencies.
Shigeru Ishiba is a Japanese politician. Ishiba is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and is the leader of the Suigetsukai party faction, and a member of the Heisei Kenkyūkai faction, which was then led by Fukushiro Nukaga, until 2011.
Hiroyuki Hosoda was a Japanese politician who served as the speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan from November 2021 to October 2023. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1990, and served as Chief Cabinet Secretary in Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet from 2004 to 2005, and as Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2008 to 2009.
Nobuteru Ishihara is a Japanese politician who was Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2010 to 2012.
Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and as acting Minister of Defense in 2017. From 2017 to 2020, he also chaired the LDP Policy Research Council.
Yasutoshi Nishimura is a Japanese politician who served as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry from August 2022 until December 2023. Nishimura previously served as Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2003, representing Hyogo’s 9th district.
Hiroshi Moriyama is a Japanese politician who serves as Chairman of the General Council of the Liberal Democratic Party since 2023. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 2015 to 2016. He was a member of the House of Councillors from 1998 to 2004 and is a member of the House of Representatives since 2004.
Katsunobu Kato is a Japanese politician who previously serves as the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare three times from 2017 to 2018, from 2019 to 2020, and from 2022 to 2023. He also served as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2020 to 2021. Belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party, he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2003.
Taro Kono is a Japanese politician serving as the Minister of Digital Affairs of Japan since August 2022. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he previously served as Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform from 2015 to 2016 and from 2020 to 2021, and was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is also a member of the House of Representatives representing Kanagawa's 15th district since 1996.
A by-election for the Hokkaido-5th seat in the Japanese House of Representatives was held on 24 April 2016, coinciding with another by-election in Kyoto. The by-election was triggered by the death of the sitting member, former Speaker of the House and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura from cerebral infarction in Osaka on 1 June 2015. Machimura, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was a long-serving representative for the district, holding the seat almost continuously between 1996 and 2015. The seat has been considered safe for the LDP, with Machimura retaining it on a 14.1% margin in the 2014 general election.
Niigata 1st district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the National Diet of Japan, represented by Chinami Nishimura of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan since 2017. As of 2017, 439,968 eligible voters were registered in the district
A leadership election was held on 20 September 2018 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan for a new 3-year term. Incumbent president Shinzo Abe was running for re-election after a rule change in 2017 that allowed him to run for a third term.
The 2020 Liberal Democratic Party of Japan leadership election was triggered by Shinzo Abe's announcement on 28 August 2020 that he would resign as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Japan, citing a relapse of his colitis. Voting took place on 14 September 2020 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, three days before the National Diet was scheduled to hold a session to elect the new Prime Minister. Initially scheduled to be held in September 2021, incumbent LDP president and the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, suddenly resigned on 28 August 2020, citing recent health concerns, prompting an election to select the President to serve the rest of Abe's term.
The First Kishida Cabinet was the 100th Cabinet of Japan. Formed by Fumio Kishida on October 4, 2021, it had 21 members, including three women. Two ministers, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, retained their posts from the previous cabinet. The government is a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito who controlled both the upper and lower houses of the National Diet.
Kōchikai is a leading faction within Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), founded by bureaucrat-turned-politician Hayato Ikeda in 1957. Currently headed by Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, it has produced five prime ministers, two LDP presidents, and a large number of cabinet officeholders.
The president of the Liberal Democratic Party is the highest-ranking member within the Japanese conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party. Due to the dominance of the LDP in Japanese politics, all except two have also been the prime minister of Japan. The current holder of the position is Fumio Kishida, who was elected to the position on 29 September 2021.
House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 10 July 2022 to elect 125 of the 248 members of the upper house of the National Diet, for a term of six years. The elections occurred after the assassination of Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan on 8 July 2022. The elected candidate with the fewest votes in the Kanagawa prefectural district will serve for three years, as the district combined its regular and byelections.
The Second Kishida Cabinet (First Reshuffle) was the 101st Cabinet of Japan and was formed by Fumio Kishida, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Japan in August 2022. The cabinet governed Japan from 10 August 2022 to 13 September 2023.
Dappi (@dappi2019) was an anonymous Twitter account that conducted smear campaigns against progressive opposition parties in Japan between 2019 and 2021. During this period, the account posted highly biased tweets designed to discredit and undermine the reputation of the country's progressives while simultaneously praising the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and conservative opposition parties. While active on Twitter, Dappi made a number of false or defamatory claims aimed at swaying public opinion against progressive opposition parties, which led to the targeted individuals filing a lawsuit. In 2021, it was revealed that the account was operated by a company with close ties to the LDP.
The nextLiberal Democratic Party leadership election will be held on September 2024 to elect the next President of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. The winner of the election will effectively become the next Prime Minister of Japan if the LDP keeps its control over the National Diet by the time of the leadership election, and will lead the party in the next Japanese general election and the next House of Councillors election in July 2025.