Sixth in a series of six
There is still another week until the Liberal Democratic Party race formally begins, but there has already been a fair share of twists and turns. Loyalties have shifted and fortunes have changed at dizzying pace, and the two weeks of campaigning are unlikely to prove any less eventful.
It started with the swift and unexpected announcement of the end of the Yoshihide Suga administration and continued with Shinzo Abe's surprise endorsement of former Minister of Internal Affairs Sanae Takaichi. At first, it looked to be a head-to-head battle between an incumbent prime minister and a single challenger in former foreign minister Fumio Kishida. Now, it seems that it will become a three-way melee between Takaichi, Kishida and administrative reform minister and vaccine czar Taro Kono.
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