Former Japanese environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi will announce his candidacy for the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Sept. 6, his office said on Wednesday, in his first attempt to become prime minister.
Shinjiro Koizumi. (Kyodo)
Koizumi, 43, has drawn support from younger LDP members, and the entry of one of the public’s favorites into the Sept. 27 presidential race could boost interest in the election. But some question whether the lower house lawmaker, who is in his fifth term, has the experience needed to lead the ruling party.
Koizumi was originally expected to announce his candidacy this week, but due to an approaching typhoon, he likely changed his schedule and held a press conference instead.
Another candidate, 63-year-old Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, who is in charge of crisis management, has also postponed his candidacy announcement until September 3 in light of the typhoon.
The LDP’s presidential campaign comes in the wake of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s sudden announcement earlier this month that he would not seek re-election as leader of the ruling party. The party has been rocked by a slush fund scandal uncovered late last year.
The opposition is already preparing for the possibility that the next LDP leader, who is likely to become prime minister, will dissolve the House of Representatives and call new elections.
The prospect of Koizumi as the next LDP leader “scares me the most,” former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, now an adviser to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said on a radio broadcast.
“He may request the dissolution (of the Lower House) before his honeymoon (after the LDP presidential race) is over and before his true self is exposed,” said Noda, who is considering running in the opposition party’s chairman election, also scheduled for September.
The next general election must be held before autumn 2025, when the term of office of the current members ends. The Prime Minister can decide to dissolve the House of Commons at a time of his or her choosing.
Koizumi’s father, Junichiro Koizumi, was prime minister from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, he brought back five Japanese abductees from North Korea. Shinjiro Koizumi appears to have the support of former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Kishida’s predecessor.
Another candidate of his generation, 49-year-old former economy minister Takayuki Kobayashi, has announced his candidacy. He is the first among the potential contenders to succeed Kishida, whose three-year term as party leader ends at the end of September.
In a recent Kyodo News magazine poll on the most likely candidates for the LDP chairmanship, Koizumi came second behind former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba (67).
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