Japan’s ruling party starts presidential election
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has started its presidential election, with four candidates, namely Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda, entering the race.
As the LDP-led coalition constitutes a majority in both chambers of the parliament in Japan, the new party president is almost certain to be elected prime minister in the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to be held on October 4, succeeding the incumbent Yoshihide Suga.
In the first round of voting, LDP parliamentarians will cast 382 votes and another 382 votes are allotted to rank-and-file members. If no candidate secures a majority, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders.
In the runoff voting, the LDP lawmakers will cast the same number of votes, but the rank-and-file members’ votes will be reduced to one for each of the LDP’s 47 prefectural chapters, which indicates that the voting of LDP Diet members will significantly sway the result.
According to a surveys, “No candidate is likely to win in the first round by securing a majority of the total 764 votes, and a runoff will likely take place.”
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Kamila/Xinhua
