In LDP Race, Battle Intensifying for Non-lawmaker Votes

August 24, 2018

Tokyo- Ahead of the Sept. 20 leadership election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a battle for support from non-lawmaker party members across Japan is intensifying between two anticipated candidates.

On the weekend, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to start a series of regional visits, including to the prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Toyama, Aichi and Tokushima. He is expected to announce his bid for a third consecutive term as LDP president in Kagoshima on Sunday.

The possible declaration outside Tokyo, a rare move for the party's presidency, appears to reflect Abe's eagerness to win broad-based support in the upcoming party poll.

Kagoshima has a historical link with Yamaguchi Prefecture, including Abe's constituency. The Satsuma-Choshu alliance, or the Satcho alliance, referring to the old names of the two prefectures, was a driving force behind the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century.

Abe, 63, is believed to be hoping to highlight his emphasis on reforms, as well as regional issues, by using this history, according to sources close to the prime minister.

Shigeru Ishiba, who has served as LDP secretary-general, as well as defense minister and in other cabinet positions, is traveling across the country this summer, aiming to drum up support from local party members.

During a speech in the town of Makubetsu, Hokkaido, on Wednesday, Ishiba, 61, stressed that the decline of regional communities is the largest challenge for Japan.

When he announced his bid for the LDP leadership on Aug. 10, Ishiba, a former regional revitalization minister, pledged to work for the reinvigoration of regional economies including the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors.

Abe had no opponents in the previous leadership election, in 2015. In the 2012 poll, he came from behind to win against Ishiba, who led in a first vote with far greater support from ordinary party members but was defeated in a runoff vote of lawmakers.

This time, Abe is believed to have already secured support from over 70 pct of the party's lawmakers. However, the results of voting by ordinary party members are "unpredictable," a source in the Abe camp said.

Abe is eager to gain overwhelming support from both lawmakers and ordinary members, in order to keep his grip on power.

Hakubun Shimomura, a senior member of the LDP's largest internal faction, from which Abe hails, said the incumbent party leader would not deserve another term if he fails to win support from a majority of ordinary party members. Jiji Press