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.[1]
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Election results | |||||||||||||||||||
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Abe's victory effectively hands him three more years as prime minister, giving him the chance of breaking the record for the nation's longest-serving prime ministership held by Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times between 1901 and 1913. Abe stayed in office through 21 November 2019, which equals 2,886 days marked by Katsura.[2] He also served the longest uninterrupted term by 24 August 2020, ahead of Eisaku Satō's 2,797 days. He resigned on 28 August 2020 due to health concerns.
In March 2018, it was revealed that the Finance Ministry (with finance minister Tarō Asō at its head) had falsified documents presented to the parliament in relation to the Moritomo Gakuen scandal, to remove 14 passages implicating Abe.[3] It has been suggested that the scandal could cost Abe his seat as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader.[3] A Kyodo poll showed the Japanese government popularity's has fallen as low as 30% from 44% in February.[4]
Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Notable positions | Party faction(s) | District(s) | Announced | Reference(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shinzo Abe | (age 63) |
21 September 1954President of the LDP (2006-2007, 2012-) Prime Minister (2006-2007, 2012-) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2005–2006) |
None | Yamaguchi 4th district | 26 August | [5] | |
Shigeru Ishiba | (age 61) |
4 February 1957Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Defense Minister (2007–2008) 2008, 2012 LDP leadership candidate |
Suigetsukai | Tottori 1st district | 1 September | [6][7] |
Candidates | Shinzo Abe[17] | Shigeru Ishiba[18] |
---|---|---|
Leader of recommenders | Seiko Hashimoto | Hidehisa Otsuji |
Person in charge | Akira Amari | Yoshihisa Furukawa |
Recommenders | Hirotaka Ishihara Seishiro Eto Toshiaki Endo Toshitaka Ōoka Tetsushi Sakamoto Katsuei Hirasawa Noriko Horiuchi Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi Hiromichi Watanabe Shigeharu Aoyama Haruko Arimura Masahisa Sato Emiko Takashina Yoshifumi Tsuge Ichiro Tsukada Takashi Hanyuda Toru Miki Toshiei Mizuochi |
Junichi Ishii Yoshifumi Matsumura Kazuhiko Aoki Saburo Shimada Shoji Maitate Satoshi Nakanishi Seiichiro Murakami Gen Nakatani Kisaburo Tokai Keiichiro Tachibana Tatsuya Ito Norihisa Tamura Ryosei Akazawa Masaaki Taira Mamoru Fukuyama Yoshinori Tadokoro Saichi Kamiyama Hiroyuki Togashi |
MPs | Party members | Total points | |
---|---|---|---|
Shinzo Abe | 329 (82%) | 355,487 (55.4%, 224 pts) | 553 (68.5%) |
Shigeru Ishiba | 73 (18%) | 286,003 (44.6%, 181 pts) | 254 (31.5%) |
Total | 402 | 641,490 (405 pts) | 807 |