Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe on Sunday reiterated his desire to have the public participate in the party's presidential election next September.
"In the end, party members will be voting, but we can think of something like a 'pre-election,' " the ruling party's No. 2 man said on a Fuji TV program. "We can do that without amending party rules."
The term of the current party president, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, expires in September.
Although there are some within the LDP cool to the idea of having the general public participate in the party's presidential election, Takebe noted that there is wide public interest in who will succeed Koizumi.
"We cannot exclude those who are interested," he said.
At the same time, Takebe predicted it would be unlikely for the party's factions to rally behind specific candidates as they have in the past.
"The 83 new lawmakers who were elected in the last general election (in September) are people who are most distant from the LDP of the past, and they may have a great impact" on the outcome of the presidential race, he said.
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