TOKYO, Sept. 11 — Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi announced Thursday he will run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s presidential election next month, Kyodo News reported.
“I will take the lead and run in the LDP presidential election,” Kobayashi, 50, said Thursday afternoon after a meeting with his supporters in the parliament building, the report said.
The announcement came days after former Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi threw his hat into the ring, making Kobayashi the second LDP lawmaker to officially announce their candidacy for the Oct. 4 race, which will choose the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Kobayashi, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, served as economic security minister under then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from 2021 to 2022.
He said he is confident that he has the support of the 20 LDP lawmakers needed for him to run in the race.
This will be Kobayashi’s second presidential attempt after an unsuccessful bid in last September’s race, which Ishiba won to become prime minister the following month.
The snap election will be held on Oct. 4 following Ishiba’s announcement on Sunday that he would step down as party president amid growing calls for him to take responsibility for the party’s election defeat.
In a landmark political setback in July, Japan’s ruling LDP-Komeito coalition lost its majority in the House of Councillors, signaling deep public dissatisfaction with the government.
The defeat follows a similar outcome in the 2024 House of Representatives election, leaving the ruling bloc a minority in both chambers of the parliament, a historic first since the LDP’s founding in 1955. (Xinhua)
